MILEPOST 35 OCTOBER 2014 II

28

SOUTHERN STEAM – from page 176 and 210 Photo: Don Benn RPS

railway performance society www.railperf.org.uk

Milepost 35½ -145 - October 2014 Milepost 35½ - October 2014

The Quarterly Magazine of the Railway Performance Society Honorary President: John Heaton FCILT Commitee:

CHAIRMAN Frank Collins 10 Collett Way, Frome, Somerset BA11 2XR Tel: 01373 466408 e-mail [email protected] SECRETARY & VC Martin Barrett 112 Langley Drive, Norton, Malton, N Yorks, YO17 9AB (and meetings) Tel: 01653 694937 Email: [email protected] TREASURER Peter Smith 28 Downsview Ave, Storrington, W Sussex, RH20 (and membership) 4PS. Tel 01903 742684 e-mail: [email protected] EDITOR David Ashley 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10 8RW. Tel 01895 675178 E-mail: [email protected] Fastest Times Editor David Sage 93 Salisbury Rd, Burton, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23, 7JR. Tel 01202 249717 E-mail [email protected] Distance Chart Editor Ian Umpleby 314 Stainbeck Rd, Leeds, W Yorks LS7 2LR Tel 0113 266 8588 Email: [email protected] Database/Archivist Lee Allsopp 2 Gainsborough, North Lake, Bracknell, RG12 7WL Tel 01344 648644 e-mail [email protected] Technical Officer David Hobbs 11 Lynton Terrace, Acton, London W3 9DX Tel 020 8993 3788 e-mail [email protected] David Stannard 26 Broomfield Close, Chelford, Macclesfield, Cheshire,SK11 9SL. Tel 01625 861172 e mail: [email protected] Steam Specialist Michael Rowe Burley Cottage, Parson St., Porlock,Minehead, Somerset, TA24 8QJ . Tel 01643 862182 E-mail: [email protected] Committee member: Michael Bruce, 234A Otley Rd., West Park, Leeds LS16 5AB Tel 0113 305 0367 E-mail: [email protected] Richard Howlett, 93 Newbury Gardens, Stoneleigh, Epsom, Surrey, KT19 0NY Tel: 020 8394 0340 E-mail: [email protected]

Non-committee official:- Fastest times Martin Robertson 23 Brownside Rd, Cambuslang, Glasgow, G72 0NL e-mail: [email protected] Directors of RPS Rail Performance Consultants Ltd.:- Frank Collins (chairman), Peter Smith (secretary), Martin Barrett

CONTENTS Notices 145 East Coast sectional running times Martin Barrett 153 Fastest Times Martin Robertson 155 A delve into the history books John Rishton 166 Class 20s in Yorkshire Ian Umpleby 172 Bournemouth electrification – part 4 Martin Barrett 176 Yorkshire Steam Circulars Noel Proudlock 191 Irish news 195 Tour de France – 50 years on Alan Varley 196 Letters 209 Book review John Heaton 213 News – Spies like us Malcolm Simister 214 Network developments Ian Umpleby 215

Enclosures (where subscribed): Distance charts, Historical Fastest Times Copyright The Railway Performance Society Ltd, registered in England & Wales No. 04488089 Use of the material in the magazine is permitted only for the private purposes of the reader No material in the magazine can otherwise be used for publication or reproduction in any form without the express permission of the Society

The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the RPS, the Editors or any of their advisers. Whilst efforts are made to ensure accuracy, the Editor his advisers and the RPS accept no responsibility for any loss or damage arising from any inaccuracies howsoever caused. Readers are asked to note that the RPS encourages contributions from all members, and articles may appear that are interesting in content, but occasionally may not be to the standard of the rest of the publication.

Milepost 35½ -146 - October 2014 Material sent to the Editors, whether commissioned or freely submitted is provided entirely at the contributors own risk; neither the Editor nor the RPS can be held responsible for any loss or damage howsoever caused. Published by The Railway Performance Society Limited, 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10 8RW Printed by Prontaprint Harrow, 7 Central Parade, Station Rd., Harrow, Middx, HA1 2TW.

PUBLICATION OF MILEPOST

Milepost is published in April, July, October, and January. If you have not received your copy by the end of the month of publication it may have gone astray. Requests for replacements of missing or defective copies should be directed please to the Editor.

REPRESENTING THE SOCIETY

The RPS is always keen to be represented at special media-type occasions. However, we do ask that anyone wishing to do this should do so with the express agreement of the Committee. Should the opportunity arise for any member or in exceptional circumstances, friend of a member, to do this please can contact be made with the Secretary (either by telephone or e-mail) setting out the circumstances of the occasion. Please give us at least one week in advance of the occasion.

SUBMITTING ARTICLES

Submissions may be sent as attachments to an email or by post as documents on a CD or diskette or as a printed document. If sending a diskette or CD, please enclose a hard copy of the article; this helps if file(s) are unreadable for any reason.

Please send all submissions to the editor whose contact details are in the inside front cover of Milepost. The editor will normally acknowledge email submissions within a few days, and always within 3 weeks. If sending by post and you wish to have a receipt, please enclose an SAE for reply. If you wish any material/CD/diskette to be returned, please clearly state this.

Milepost 23¾ gave detailed guidelines for submissions. The editor is happy to supply these, on request by email or by post. Please note that page margins are critical: one inch or 2.54cm top, bottom, left and right.

Fastest Times

Please send all Fastest Times contributions to David Sage at the address on the inside cover. Please see enclosed supplement discussing future options.

This is with the following exceptions:- David Ashley for Voyagers, 180s, Pendolinos and 222s. Bill Long for DB material.

If in doubt then e-mail or post to my contact details on the inside cover.

Please, where practicable, also copy claims and logs to Lee Allsopp for the Society archive, and to Martin Robertson for material for his Fastest Times articles.

Note that the Members area of the RPS website – see www.railperf.org.uk - has the latest GB and Overseas Fastest Times. These times are also there in the general area, but without the recorder’s initials. At present all entries are as up to date as possible from submissions received. I must still confess to a time-lag with regard to the general area, but Member’s site is fine.

We thanks respondents for comments requested regarding the proposed changes to Fastest Times listings. It has been agreed by your committee to proceed broadly in accordance with the principles covered in the discussion document, and further details will be supplied in the January edition..

HISTORIC FASTEST TIMES

If you have any items to offer please contact me by email at either [email protected] or [email protected], or by post to Bevan Price, 24 Walmesley Road, Eccleston, St.

Milepost 35½ -147 - October 2014 Helens, Lancs., WA10 5JT. SALES ITEMS Back Numbers: Certain back issues of Milepost, from Milepost 6 onwards, can be supplied at a price of £2.50 each including postage. Supplies are extremely limited and once sold they will not be reprinted. Details of issues available will be supplied on request. Milepost is available in the British Library; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the University Library, Cambridge; The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; The Library of Trinity College, Dublin, the National Library of Wales, the National Railway Museum and the Railway Studies Library at Newton Abbot Library. Where a requested edition is out of print the member will be provided with a letter of authority from the Society (as copyright holder) to enable a complete copy to be taken from any of the Library copies. Indices for volumes 7, 8, 10, 12 to 19 and 21 are available and will be supplied free of charge on receipt of an A5 size stamped addressed envelope.

Overseas Distance Supplement (Section 1 France): £8.50

The complete collection of Issue 2 distance charts compiled to date. Individual new and revised charts are distributed occasionally with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supplementary membership fee.

Overseas Distance Supplement (Section 2 Ireland): £7.50

The complete set of Irish distance charts as published in 2005/6. If any revised charts are published they will be distributed with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supllementary membership fee.

UK Fastest Times £5.00

2010 and 2011-3 supplements in loose-leaf format Historical Fastest Times 2004, 2006 Editions: £2.00 each; 2004/6/7 pack: £7.50 Orders for all above sales items please to Peter Smith. All prices include postage. Please enclose the correct remittance with your order and allow 28 days for delivery.

VOYAGER, ADELANTE, CHALLENGER, PENDOLINO and Reopened ECML, GE and GW RECORDS.

The notice of members is drawn to the monthly e-mail update of Fastest times for Classes 180/220/221/220+221/222/390 and the re-opened lists for FGW/ecml and GE. If anyone would like to start receiving these lists please let me know by e-mail to [email protected]. If a current recipient wishes to withdraw his name, please let me know.

For the benefit of new members the re-opened lists refer to the fastest performances recorded on and from the arbitrary start date of 18/5/08 They are usually, but necessarily, slower than the printed book Fastest Times, many of which were achieved pre-data recorders and involved speeds that are unlikely to be repeated. The re-opened records are for HSTs from FGW services plus Wakefield Westgate to Penzance, Class 91s and HSTs on Fastest Time book 'ecml' sections and for Class 90s on GE sections.

Submissions must be made in excel or works spreadsheet and the format used on the lists issued, unless the member does not have access to the technology. This is to minimise copying errors and compilation time. It would be a good idea therefore for new members to wait until they have received an issue of the lists before participating to save them from indulging in unnecessary detail. No logs are needed for this exercise, although David Sage and Martin Robertson would appreciate a copy if the record is also a new Fastest Times book entry, as opposed to just a re-opened one.

If in doubt please do not hesitate to contact me on the above e-mail address, by phone on 01895

Milepost 35½ -148 - October 2014 675178 or letter to David Ashley, 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10 8RW THE MEETINGS SECTION

THURSDAY 30TH OCTOBER TUESDAY 4TH NOVEMBER THURSDAY 22ND JANUARY 2014 2014 2015 The Beaufort Arms The Grove Inn, LEEDS The Royal Oak, Borough, BRISTOL PARKWAY LONDON 1645 1700 1645 Area Meeting Area Meeting Area Meeting

Whilst we only have a couple of area meetings for the rest of 2014, in 2015 we have:-

14 March – David Maidment speaking at the Calthorpe in London 16 May - AGM in York followed by a Steam Seminar

More details in the January Milepost DIRECTIONS TO THE VENUES

LONDON – The Royal Oak, 44 Tabard Street, London SE1 4JU. From Borough tube station, turn left and at first road junction turn right into Great Dover Street and the almost immediately left into Long Lane. Tabard Street is a few yards on the right (5 minutes walk). OR from London Bridge walk down approach road and turn left into Borough High Street, Turn left by Southwark Local Studies Library, with St Georges Church on right, into Tabard Street. Cross Long Lane and continue down Tabard Street with Royal Oak on right (just over 10 minutes). Please let Richard Howlett know if you are coming on 020 8394 0340 or [email protected]

LEEDS – THE GROVE INN, Back Row (off Neville Street), Leeds The Grove Inn is around 400 yards south of Leeds City station (under10 minutes walk). From the south concourse at Leeds City station go past M & S Simply Food, cross the road and into a circular building, go down the steps and turn sharp right at the bottom, continue under the railway on Neville Street, past the Hilton Hotel, over the river, cross Water Lane, next on the right is a large new office complex called Bridgewater Place with Starbucks and a Tesco Express, turn immediately right after Bridgewater Place into Back Lane and The Grove Inn is on the right (an old building surrounded by modern office blocks). It is highly visible from Neville Street at this point). If you are going to attend this meeting, it would help if you can let Chris Taylor know on 07941 315846 or [email protected]

BRISTOL PARKWAY - THE BEAUFORT ARMS Members should leave Parkway station along the approach road, passing the bus stops and, at the mini-roundabout where the station approach joins Hatchet Road, turn right. Walk 100 yards and at the next mini-roundabout, turn right again. You are now walking along North Road. Meetings are held at The Beaufort Arms, BS34 8PB, which is on the left side of North Road after a further 50 yards. Meetings start at 16:45 and conclude around 19:15. The Beaufort Arms is open all day and food is served at all times. You can order and eat during the meeting should you wish. Further information is available from John Rishton on 07804 418896 or [email protected]

FREE SOCIETY MEETINGS All society meetings are free of charge to Members attending; i.e. no contribution will be asked towards the hire of rooms. The committee wishes to encourage Members to come along to meetings, talk to other train timers and share information and experiences of traction performance. The Society has a digital projector and if any member would like to give a short presentation at a society meeting using this projector (or without if they prefer), or if anyone has any topics for discussion at meetings please contact the Meetings Organiser.

MEETING REPORTS: BRISTOL JUNE 26th 2014 – John Rishton

Ten members met at the regular Beaufort Arms venue close to Bristol Parkway station.

We kicked off with a recent attempt by Virgin at a new fastest time between Euston and Birmingham International, and back. Existing records were not broken on the day but we discussed other recent, more successful, achievements and the need to ensure the track ahead is kept clear. This led on to a discussion of train despatch and station dwell times and the arrangements for Glastonbury this year.

Milepost 35½ -149 - October 2014

A presentation of the recent run by 5043 between Plymouth and Bristol (and comparison with that by 7029 some fifty years earlier) revealed an excellent and consistent high output from shortly after Whiteball through to Parson Street which clinched it for 5043, winning by over 3 minutes!

Further train operating points raised were the reason for a class 43 run that consistently remained under 100mph – power car – brake faults – broken outer window being possibilities but the latter was the more likely. Further improvements on Chiltern following hire of class 68 locos were anticipated. Members felt that performance when a DVT leads was generally inferior to “loco at the front.”

The recent announcement by the Chancellor regarding HS3 and current capacity problems of the existing services between Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds, especially at times of service disruption were also discussed.

LEEDS MEETING – 1st July 2014 – Chris Taylor www.flickr.com/fenaybridge Twelve members gathered at The Grove on 1st July, Ian Umpleby presented logs of a run on the new Newcastle to Liverpool service between Liverpool and Manchester Victoria with the log showing a time of 31 min 33 sec just inside the booked time. Comment was made that in the eastbound direction the former junction at Deal Street (just to the east of Salford Central station) had a 10 mph speed restriction, this is still the same today even though there are now no points or junction. Ian said a number of severe speed restrictions on class 185 DMU's had appeared on diversionary routes namely New Pudsey in the down direction of 5 mph, an overbridge at 34 mile 39 chain between Bradford & Halifax of 5 mph and Sowerby Bridge station in the down direction of 15 mph, but only the latter is a regular diversionary route. Home Tunnel on the Copy Pit line is still 20 mph (since raised to 45 mph).

It was reported that the WTT does not take into account todays different driving techniques e.g. brake tests. A 50 year loco (a class 52) is faster starting than a much newer class 67 on level track e.g. from a start a class 52 attains 60 mph in 175 seconds whilst with a similar load a much more powerful class 67 needs 179 seconds to reach 60 mph. It was reported that Cross country are trialling acceleration control to limit fuel consumption.

MARTIN TASKER MEMORIAL LIBRARY - Lee Allsopp

The Society holds a large number of books (~170) containing articles on performance, or containing information of use to Society Members. Full details of the books held are contained in past issues of Milepost.

The books are available for borrowing by contacting me by letter, phone or E-Mail. The borrower will be responsible for postage in both directions. It will be possible in many cases for arrangements to be made to pass books on at Society Meetings to avoid postage costs in one direction at least. The length of the loan can be flexible by agreement.

The Society will be happy to receive donations to the Library. Items should be related to Railway Performance (no Magazine Collections please). Again please contact me regarding this. New items received into the Library will be notified in updates published in Milepost. The entire contents of the library will are listed on the Society Website.

Our new President, John Heaton has kindly donated ‘South and West from Waterloo’, a book of photos by Mark Warburton with commentary by Gerry Nichols. A review of this book can be found elsewhere in Milepost.

RPS ARCHIVES – LATEST UPDATES – Lee Allsopp

The RPS Archive consists of material collected over the years from submissions and donations of material and collections by members. We are also indebted to the Steam Railway Research Society (SRRS), and the Stephenson Locomotive Society (SLS) for giving us the opportunity to scan some of their material for inclusion in our archive.

The following is a short summary of the material that is has been added to the Archive on our Website since the last issue of Milepost. The Website is generally updated on a monthly basis, normally the

Milepost 35½ -150 - October 2014 first Sunday in the month. It you haven’t had a look yet, then please give it a try!

 Latest material from Lee Allsopp  Latest runs from Ian Umpleby.  David Adams logs from the 2nd Quarter of 2014  Milepost 35¼  Fastest times from May-July 2014  German Fastest Times 2013/2014  Latest runs from Bob Jennings  Latest from David Sage  Latest from Peter Smith  Latest from Richard Neville-Carle  Logs from John Rishton to go with his Fastest Times entries  Latest runs from Charles Foss  47 more books from a vast collection by Allan Heaton, covering Jan 1999 to April 2003. Only about 30 more to go now, the end is in sight!  The remainder of runs from the Reverend R S Haines, covering steam on the Portsmouth line from Petersfield to Portsmouth immediately before electrification  More from Bevan Price, including recent runs from the past few years.  More from David Lloyd-Roberts covering commuting from Tunbridge Wells to London in 1964/1965  More from Philip Tromans covering Oxford – Birmingham and Birmingham - Derby  The first 5 books from a collection by John Wrottesley covering wartime running from 1940 – 1944  The first of 78 notebooks from S A W Harvey covering mainly Southern Steam on the South Eastern from 1929 to 1958. These books have kindly been lent to us by the SLS. The first book covers 1929 – 1932.

RPS ARCHIVES – Coming soon! – Lee Allsopp

Thanks go to two of our members, Kevin Daniel and Frank Waterland who are continuing to scan some of the vast amount of material that goes into the archive.

The following is a taster of material that will appear in the archive, as it is scanned and processed, together with topical material received from a number of members.

 More notebooks containing ~10,000 logs recorded by Allan Heaton. These have been lent to the Society. Data from about 260 books has been entered so far, with about another 30 books still to go  David Lloyd-Roberts has made his vast amount of material available to the society. These will be scanned and added to the archive over the coming months. Data from 59 books has been entered so far.  More from Bevan Price’s notebooks, covering a vast amount of travel over many years.  As mentioned above, a collection of books from John Wrottesley have been scanned and are being entered into the archive.  Again mentioned above, 78 books from S A W Harvey have been lent to the society. These are being scanned and will appear in the archive over the next few months.

NEED MATERIAL FOR ARTICLES? – Lee Allsopp

Do you feel that you could write an article for Milepost if only you had access to material to do so? Just want some information to satisfy an idle curiosity? Even if you don’t have access to the Society Archives on the website, you can still get information and logs for that article or whatever by contacting me direct by either E-Mail, phone or letter. Just ask me the question and I’ll see what we can come up with!

PROVISION OF CURRENT MATERIAL FOR RPS ARCHIVE – Lee Allsopp

With many members now being connected by Broadband, we are now in a position where we can

Milepost 35½ -151 - October 2014 receive contributions via E-Mail of current material from as many members as wish to contribute. A member could record a log one day and send it to me immediately for inclusion in the database and archive. Would any members who may wish to participate in this please contact me by E-Mail for further details.

I can accept material in a number of formats, Word, Excel, Acrobat pdf files and scanned images of hand written material (eg notebooks). For scanned images we find that scanning at 150 dpi gives perfectly acceptable results, while producing files of a reasonable size (200KB-1MB depending on size of paper, density of printing etc)

Distance Chart Editor’s Report – Ian Umpleby

It’s now six years since I took over this task and completion of a full set of new/updated printed charts covering the entire Network Rail system is nearing completion; there are some charts before my first issue, 49, that will not be reprinted as there is little to add, but these shall be examined for any alterations and updated on the web site. This issue includes the Ilkley and Morecambe branches, Liverpool to Chester/Southport, Coryton/Treherbert, Newquay and Paddock Wood to Strood. Hopefully I shall be able to complete the remaining tables in January and, in the meantime, start the delayed Heritage/Closed lines series. There will be no Irish chart issue until next year at the earliest. For your delectation infrastructure/PSR changes continue to be entered on the web site as does the weekly digest of Temporary Speed Restrictions. If you wish to post any item of interest on the website feel free to do so; Lee will be able to help you gain access if you have not done so before. As ever thanks to all those members who have helped me over the last three months.

RPS President

Gordon Pettitt has recently retired as President of the Society. We thank him for his contribution over the past eight years, and hope he is able to continue his involvement with the Society. As he wasn’t able to attend the AGM, a handover of responsibilities to the new President, John Heaton, took place at Gordon’s home in Woking during June. He was presented with his life membership certificate and medal. The photograph shows Gordon (left) welcoming John to his Presidency.

Milepost 35½ -152 - October 2014 East Coast Sectional Running Times: Are they attainable?

Martin Barrett

In May 2013 I had two ‘almost perfect’ runs from York to Kings Cross, with no TSRs, the first unchecked throughout and the second only delayed after Finsbury Park and virtually no excess over the line limit (1 mph in only four locations). Despite this we still did not meet the net sectional running time of 100½ minutes. This worried me so I analysed the runs to find out where the loss was occurring. As you are all probably aware, the raw data is rounded to half minutes, so, in theory, each section could be up to 24 seconds adrift (either + or -) but overall they should all balance out.

Of the runs themselves, the 09.57 from York on 18 May departed 9½ minutes late and arrived at Kings Cross one minute early, whilst the 09.55 on 27 May left only half a minute late but arrived nine minutes early. On 18 May there was heavy rain leaving York causing some slipping so nearly half a minute was lost to Colton Junction, but after that the pluses and minuses cancel each other out until between Grantham and Stoke where a loss of 43 seconds could not be balanced. On 27 May, apart from the start, a similar situation occurred, so much so that the net aggregate time difference between the runs from Colton Junction to Hitchin was only one second different.

The loss to Finsbury Park was 1½ minutes, so where was this occurring? Already identified is half a minute in the Grantham area, but this still leaves one minute to apportion. This is much more difficult as there are no large losses, but when you examine the cumulative loss it would appear that to make the running times realistic you need an extra half minute between Grantham and Stoke, Connington and Huntingdon and Alexandra Palace and Finsbury Park. This would result in the difference between the planned and actual times being less than ½ minutes at nearly all locations (maybe the Grantham area needs more adjustment). Whether the OHNS play a part in this is difficult to ascertain as access to the detailed raw data would be required.

This leaves us with the remaining time loss which is between Belle Isle and Kings Cross. The distance is 58 chains from passing Belle Isle to the buffer stops. The loco stops say one chain short so we have 57 chains. On a very rough calculation we have 29 chains @ 35mph and 28 chains at 15 mph which gives an absolute minimum of 1m 55½s with no allowance for any braking. The schedule shows two minutes which, although probably technically possible, is likely to be unachievable in every day operation. I have looked back over 17 of my runs in 2012/13 and the time varied from 2m 14s to 3m 08s, but that is from the 3rd or 4th coach passing MP¾, so for the front of the train an adjustment has to be made. Realistically 2½ minutes should be the minimum allowed – indeed looking at my runs, three minutes looks more robust (average 2m 42s). Surprisingly, coming in on the slow lines is quicker with the limit being 45 mph instead of 35 mph – and also the suburban platforms are shorter, so although I haven’t timed any trains into these platforms, on paper, the minimum should be only 1m 24s which leaves two minutes as achievable. Maybe another exercise will prove this – unless coming into an occupied platform that will add more time.

Most of these running time deficiencies are covered up by additional allowances so if 2½ minutes is added to the schedule this should reduce the existing pathing/performance allowances from the existing 11½ minutes to 9 minutes and maybe achieve better pathing as well.

Finally, looking at the fastest York to Kings Cross time of 99m 04s recorded in 1992, how did these runs compare with that? The 1992 run had speeds of over 130 mph in many places for many miles. However, Colton Junction to Hitchin (155 miles) took 78m 33s, only three

Milepost 35½ -153 - October 2014 minutes quicker than my 27 May run so, once again, it demonstrates that raising line speeds ‘at the top end’ would not save substantial amounts of time. Interestingly, the 1992 run gained one minute over the 29½ miles from Hitchin to Finsbury Park by reaching speeds of 131 mph at Knebworth and 108/109 between Potters Bar and Finsbury Park.

Date Sat 18 May 2013 Mon 27 May 2013 Train 0957 York - KX 0955 York – KX Units DVT/9/91XXX DVT/9/91XXX Weather Rain - bright pds ex Donc Sunny Recorder/Pos Martin Barrett (4/11) Martin Barrett (3/11) line OHNS m ch location spd m c sch net m s mph sec cum sch net m S mph sec cum 188 34 York (Plat 3) 30 0 0 0 0 9½ late 0 0 0 0 ½ late 184 60 Copmanthorpe 125 4 21 97 3 53 100 183 00 Colton Jn 125 5 5 5 22 110 22 22 5 5 4 54 112 -6 -6 180 26 Ryther Via SE 125 -1 6 53 124/125 6 24 125 175 00 Hambleton N Jn 125 174 58 10 9 9 20 122 -2 20 9 9 8 51 124 -3 -9 174 20 Hambleton S Jn 125 9 39 121/126 9 12 122 169 20 Templehirst Jn 125 13 12 12 9 123 -11 9 12 12 11 37 125 -14 -23 167 20 Heck 125 13 8 120 12 36 125 165 74 Balne 125 13 47 124 13 13 125 163 00 Moss 125 <1> 15 12 123 <1> 14 37 124 160 48 Joan Croft 125 16 22 122 -1 15 47 125 160 16 Shaftholme Jn pts 125 18 16 16 34 121/123 25 34 18 16 15 59 124 22 -1 158 02 Arksey 125 156 50 (½) 17 39 121 (1½) 17 5 101 156 00 Doncaster 100 21 18½ 18 46 95 -18 16 22 18½ 18 19 98 -10 -11 154 00 Decoy S Jn 125 19 54 113 19 27 113 152 00 Loversall Carr 125 23 20½ 20 55 122 9 25 24 20½ 20 27 122 8 -3 151 29 Rossington 125 21 15 122 20 46 122 147 60 Bawtry 110 147 58 23 4 109/107 22 37 110 144 00 Ranskill 125 25 4 122/124 24 34 122/124 138 49 Retford 125 139 41 29½ 27 27 40 119 15 40 30½ 27 27 10 120 13 10 137 37 Grove Road 120 28 16 116 27 46 115 134 40 Askham Tnl NE 115 29 50 111 29 19 115 130 29 Egmanton 125 <1> 31 58 126 <1> 31 24 125 126 25 Carlton 125 33 54 121/124 33 21 124 123 00 Bathley Lane 125 123 40 35 32 123 34 58 122 120 63 Newark Crossing 100 39½ 36 36 40 97 40½ 36 36 8 95 -2 8 (1½) 120 12 Newark NG 125 41½ 36½ 37 5 102 -5 35 41 36½ 36 32 101 -6 2 119 03 Barnby 125 37 43 110/123 37 10 108 115 27 Claypole 125 44 39 39 36 122/123 1 36 43½ 39 39 5 122 3 5 111 40 Hougham 125 40 57 124/111 108 29 Peascliffe Tnl NE 115 107 55 43 6 113 42 36 113 105 40 Grantham 100 49 44 44 46 97 10 46 48½ 44 44 15 95 10 15 101 00 Stoke Tnl NE 115 47 17 112 46 51 111 99 60 Stoke Jn 125 100 00 51½ 46½ 47 59 111 43 89 51 46½ 47 32 113 47 62 97 12 Corby Glen 125 49 16 126 48 49 125/124 92 17 Little Bytham 125 92 29 51 39 122 51 12 125/124 87 07 Greatford 125 54 8 124 53 40 125 84 64 Tallington 125 84 56 59 54 55 16 124/121 -13 76 58½ 54 54 46 124 -16 46 81 71 Helpston 125 125 56 11 124 79 40 Werrington Jn 125 <½> 57 53 124 <1> 57 20 123 78 00 New England N 125 78 14 58 35 121 58 6 109 76 27 Peterborough 105 64 58½ 59 28 104/100 -18 58 64 58½ 59 5 99 -11 35 75 00 Fletton Jn 115 60 14 106/115 59 52 108/113

Milepost 35½ -154 - October 2014 m ch location spd OHNS sch net m s mph sec cum sch net m s mph sec cum 72 63 Yaxley 100 <½> 61 26 106/98 -2 61 3 107/98 69 26 Holme 125 69 00 63 30 104/102 63 7 107 67 20 Connington S Jn 125 69½ 63½ 64 42 111 14 72 71 63½ 64 13 113 8 43 63 00 MP 125 (1½) 66 29 116/125 58 67 Huntingdon 125 73½ 67½ 68 57 123/125 15 87 76½ 67½ 68 32 124 19 62 55 72 Offord 120 70 24 118 69 57 119 51 56 St Neots 125 49 72 72 27 123/120 72 0 124/122 47 38 Tempsford 125 74 32 126 74 5 124 46 30 Everton 125 75 3 125 74 36 124 44 10 Sandy 125 80½ 74½ 76 9 121 12 99 83½ 74½ 75 42 124 10 72 41 15 Biggleswade 125 77 34 123/120 77 7 124/122 37 00 Arlesey 125 (2½) 79 37 126 <2> 79 10 125 32 00 Hitchin 125 32 57 89 80½ 82 5 118 -4 95 91½ 80½ 81 36 122/121 -6 66 125 -2 27 48 Stevenage 125 93 82½ 84 17 123 12 107 93½ 82½ 83 46 124/125 10 76 25 00 Knebworth 125 25 73 85 34 115 85 1 121 23 65 Woolmer Green 125 95 84½ 86 12 107 -5 102 95½ 84½ 85 37 110 -9 67 23 12 Welwyn N Tnl NE 105 86 36 105 86 0 103 22 00 Welwyn North 115 87 15 103 (½) 86 41 106 21 36 Digswell 115 87 37 107 86 59 109 20 20 Welwyn GC 115 19 29 97 86½ 88 14 116 2 104 98 86½ 87 37 115 17 56 Hatfield 115 89 33 112 88 57 113 15 46 Welham Green 115 90 41 116 90 4 115 14 40 Brookmans Park 115 91 16 111 90 39 114 12 60 Potters Bar 115 13 21 101 90½ 92 15 102 1 105 102 90½ 91 34 105 -3 64 9 14 New Barnet 100 94 24 98 93 41 101 8 28 Oakleigh Park 100 94 53 100 94 11 101 6 37 New Southgate 100 96 2 98 95 18 101 5 00 Alexandra Pal 95 5 15 105½ 95 96 57 94 12 117 106½ 95 96 13 94 9 73 4 00 Hornsey 95 -1 97 35 92 96 51 91 3 33 Harringay 95 97 59 88 97 15 87 2 40 Finsbury Park 90 108 96½ 98 41 64 14 131 108 96½ 97 57 66 14 87 [2] [2] sigs 0 60 Belle Isle 35 112 98½ 100 42 31 1 112 98½ 100 56 20 101 24 sig ** 102 1 stop 0 07 KX (Plat 0) 15 114 100½ 103 32 1 early 50 114 100½ 104 29

Net loss 182 Net loss to FP 131 87 Colton Jn to Hitchin 75.5 76 43 76 42 **waiting 0655 Eboro to clear into Plat 4

FASTEST TIMES UPDATE

Martin Robertson

Welcome to another Fastest Times Update with my thanks to all those who have contributed runs over the last few months. There have still been relatively few new FT’s on the Midland Main Line other than Alan Varley’s runs recorded in the first week of August. In general new FT’s have been relatively scarce on the main lines.

We start with two runs from Alan Varley coming north from St Pancras. Run 1 is the Blue Riband section from St Pancras to Leicester. The running was excellent and for those who

Milepost 35½ -155 - October 2014 Table 1 Run 1 2 Date Tu 5-Aug-14 Mon 4-Aug-14 Train 0958 St Pancras-Sheffield 0758 St Pancras-Sheffield Loco 222006 222003 Load 7,335/350 7,335/350 Recorder A Varley A Varley Pos/GPS/Weather 3/7 N Overcast 7/7 N Fine Miles M C m s avge m s avge 0.00 00 18 St Pancras 0 00.0 1 late 0 00.0 RT 0.76 00 78 Tunnel S 1 56.0 RBT 23.6 1 58.0 RBT 23.2 1.32 01 43 Kentish Town 2 36.5 49.8 2 38.0 50.4 3.69 03 73 West Hampstead 4 29.5 79 75.5 4 28.5 80 77.2 4.88 05 08 Cricklewood 5 19.0 91/107 86.5 5 19.0 90/107 84.8 6.75 06 78 Hendon 6 24.0 105/109 103.6 6 24.0 104/111 103.6 9.13 09 28 Mill Hill 7 44.5 108 106.4 7 44.5 109/111 106.4 10.77 11 00 Scratchwood 8 38.5 110/108 109.3 8 37.5 109 111.4 12.22 12 36 Elstree 9 26.5 111 108.8 9 25.5 111 108.8 14.99 15 17 Radlett 10 49.5 126 120.1 10 48.0 126/125 120.9 16.15 16 30 Redlands 11 23.0 124 124.7 11 21.5 126 124.7 18.02 18 20 Napsbury 12 20.5 96*/94 117.1 12 19.5 95* 116.1 19.67 19 72 St Albans 13 22.5 97 95.8 13 21.0 97 96.6 21.02 21 20 Sandridge 14 11.0 106/113 100.2 14 10.0 106 99.2 22.83 23 04 OB 15 10.0 112/110 110.4 15 08.0 116 112.3 24.44 24 53 Harpenden 16 02.0 111 111.5 15 59.0 110 113.6 27.06 27 22 Chiltern Green 17 32.0 103 104.8 17 28.5 100* 105.4 28.99 29 17 Luton Airport 18 43.5 94 97.2 18 42.0 91/90 94.5 30.02 30 20 Luton 19 24.0 90 91.6 19 23.0 92 90.4 32.57 32 62 Leagrave 20 53.5 110 102.6 20 53.5 110 101.4 33.79 34 00 MP 34 21 32.0 117/116 114.1 21 33.0 113 111.2 37.06 37 21 Harlington 23 10.5 126/122 119.5 23 09.5 126/125 122.0 39.99 40 16 Flitwick 24 35.5 123 124.1 24 34.0 126 124.8 42.04 42 19 Ampthill Tunn S 25 38.0 108* 118.1 25 35.0 110* 121.0 43.56 43 60 Millbrook 26 26.5 119/125 112.8 26 23.0 118/127 114.0 46.82 47 02 Elstow OB 28 03.5 110*/108 121.0 27 58.5 110* 122.9 49.67 49 71 Bedford 29 37.5 110 109.1 29 31.5 111 110.3 51.22 51 34 Oakley Jc OB 30 27.5 115/122/120 111.6 30 21.0 118 112.7 53.66 53 70 OB 31 41.0 124/126 119.5 31 34.0 125 120.3 56.47 56 55 Sharnbrook OB 33 07.0 111*/112 117.6 32 58.5 110* 119.7 59.53 59 60 MP 59¾ 34 45.5 111/126 111.8 34 38.5 110/126 110.2 62.40 62 50 Irchester 36 10.0 125 122.3 36 03.0 124/78* 122.3 64.83 65 04 Wellingborough 37 41.5 80* 95.6 37 34.5 80 95.6 66.26 66 39 Bush Bridge 38 40.5 99 87.3 38 33.0 100/102/101 88.0 67.96 68 15 Finedon 39 40.5 104/109 102.0 39 32.5 104/111 102.9 70.50 70 58 Kettering S Jc 41 06.0 105/93* 106.9 40 56.5 */90 108.9 71.77 72 00 Kettering 41 54.0 98/97 95.3 41 44.5 96 95.3 74.27 74 40 Glendon S 43 24.0 102 100.0 43 14.5 101 100.0 75.34 75 45 Glendon Bdg 44 01.0 108/112 104.1 43 51.5 108/110 104.1 78.04 78 21 Desborough OB 45 31.0 102* 108.0 45 22.0 99* 107.4 80.21 80 35 Braybrook 46 47.5 102 102.1 46 40.5 100/60* 99.5 82.71 82 75 Market Harborough 48 37.5 59* 81.8 48 32.0 61 80.7 84.33 84 45 Gt Bowden OB 49 53.5 91 76.7 49 48.0 91 76.7 86.27 86 40 East Langton 51 03.5 104 99.8 50 58.5 100 99.1 87.99 88 17 UB 52 01.0 109/110 107.7 51 56.0 110/108 107.7 89.45 89 54 Kibworth N OB 52 49.5 109 108.4 52 44.5 110 108.4 91.31 91 43 Great Glen 53 51.0 */99/101 108.9 53 45.0 */100 110.7 93.26 93 39 Kilby Br Jc 55 00.5 100 101.0 54 54.5 101/sigs 40 101.0

Milepost 35½ -156 - October 2014 Miles M C m s avge m s avge 95.22 95 36 Wigston 56 14.5 80* 95.4 56 57.0 70 57.6 96.36 96 47 OB 57 03.5 93 83.8 57 49.5 92 78.2 97.86 98 07 Knighton T N 58 07.5 * 84.4 58 54.0 * 83.7 98.85 99 06 Leicester 60 06.0 30.1 60 53.0 Slow stop 29.9 are not familiar with the line, one has only to look at the speed profile to realise how alert the driver has to be to achieve such a good run. The overall time was just over the sixty minute ‘benchmark’ despite a good exit from St Pancras and entry into Leicester. Run 2 was marginally bettering the first run until a signal check at Wigston Jn. Alan’s comments are:-

Practically all my FT runs were in the down direction: early up runs ran into checks, and then after the weekend a 50 TSR re-appeared in Ampthill tunnel on the up. Also I did more down runs than up since 2 of my days on the Midland finished with a transfer to XC at Sheffield or Derby.

Star turn was obviously the 0958 on 05/08, an excellent run throughout to Chesterfield. Helped perhaps by a 1-late start, but the run to Derby suggested that this was a driver who ran fast whatever the circumstances. I have compared it with a run the day before on the 0758. Both made good starts with the RBT going into Camden Hill tunnel, which seems to be the best tactic; in fact in view of my position in the train the 0758 was faster away; it also ran slightly faster downhill and braked later for Kettering, where it was almost 10 secs ahead. The 0958 was quicker on the approach to Market Harborough so had pulled back to 5secs behind when the 0758 ran into signals before Wigston. The 0958 then made a good stop, with 15 maintained right up to the point of sharp final braking. With current limits a 1-hr run is clearly possible, though not easy.

In Table 2 we have further offerings from Alan on Northbound services. Run 1 on the 12 29 St Pancras-Nottingham service was the fastest of the three services to Chiltern Green, although less than 5 seconds separated the three runs at this point. Alan comments:- The 1229 lost about 5 secs by a severe RBT but was then on the contrary very prompt to open up so even got ahead of the first two, and the stop in Luton Airport Parkway was not too bad by today’s standards.

Run 2 was on the 6 52 St Pancras – Nottingham service which after a stop at Luton Airport Parkway runs through to Leicester. Alan comments:-

Finally there is another LAP start on the 0652 from St Pancras which then goes non-stop to Leicester. This had not been very fast to LAP – 19 51 – but it has an easy timing so left RT. The running at first was intermediate between that of the 1229 and the 1329 and fairly standard from Bedford to Kettering; then it was a little slow through Market Harborough, particularly getting away from the slack, and there was an easing through E Langton. The driver may have been afraid of catching something, and indeed we were checked into Leicester – definitely a check, I think, as we braked early at Knighton and came down to about 10 well before the start of the 15 MPS. So a net time of 42 30 or a fraction over.

For Table 3 we have an offering from Sandy Smeaton with a FT between Carlisle and Lancaster on the 8 00 Glasgow – Birmingham service. Sandy comments:- This is my best up run for some time. The time to Carlisle was only 16 seconds behind the current record of 64m 51s despite two tsr’s at Uddingston and Floriston. The record time to Lancaster was unexpected given the Clifton tsr. The gap in the log between Mp46 ½ and Harrison’s Siding was due to the need for a cup of tea. Perhaps with the tsr in mind the driver produced a very fast time to Penrith, 11s faster than on the record run to Oxenholme, but was 25s at Shap Summit, and still 15s down at Mp20. However a fast finish knocked 61s off the previous fastest time.

Milepost 35½ -157 - October 2014 Table 2 Run 1 2 Date Wed 6-Aug-14 Fri 1-Aug-14 Train 1229 St Pancras-Nottingham 0652 St Pancras-Nottingham Loco 222021 222013 Load 5,241/245 5,241/250 Recorder A Varley A Varley Pos/GPS/Weather 1/5 N Fine 5/5 N Fine Miles M C m s speeds ave m s speeds ave 0.00 00 18 St Pancras 0 00.0 RT 0.76 00 78 Tunnel S 2 00.0 RBT severe 22.8 1.32 01 43 Kentish Town 2 42.0 48.0 3.69 03 73 West Hampstead 4 33.5 76.5 4.88 05 08 Cricklewood 5 20.0 90/108 92.1 6.75 06 78 Hendon 6 23.5 105/111 106.0 9.13 09 28 Mill Hill 7 43.0 110/113 107.8 10.77 11 00 Scratchwood 8 35.5 110 112.5 12.22 12 36 Elstree 9 23.0 110 109.9 14.99 15 17 Radlett 10 46.0 126/124 120.1 16.15 16 30 Redlands 11 19.5 125 124.7 18.02 18 20 Napsbury 12 17.5 95*/94 116.1 19.67 19 72 St Albans 13 21.0 96 93.5 21.02 21 20 Sandridge 14 08.5 104 102.3 22.83 23 04 OB 15 07.5 114/117 110.4 24.44 24 53 Harpenden 15 58.0 108*/100/104 114.8 27.06 27 22 Chiltern Green 17 27.5 102 105.4 28.99 29 17 Luton Airport 19 20.0 61.8 28.99 21 30.0 1,5 late 0 00.0 RT 30.02 30 20 Luton 1 19.0 70/102 45.0 1 22.0 71 45.2 32.57 32 62 Leagrave 3 01.5 100 89.6 3 03.5 102 90.4 33.79 34 00 MP 34 3 42.5 111 107.1 3 44.5 111/126 107.1 37.06 37 21 Harlington 5 19.5 125/126 121.4 5 21.5 124/127 121.4 39.99 40 16 Flitwick 6 43.5 125 125.6 6 45.0 124 126.3 42.04 42 19 Ampthill Tunn S 7 44.0 110* 122.0 7 47.5 112 118.1 43.56 43 60 Millbrook 8 32.0 119 114.0 8 36.5 117/127 111.7 45.31 45 40 MP 9 22.5 126 124.8 9 27.0 126 124.8 46.82 47 02 Elstow OB 10 07.5 111* 120.8 10 12.0 110* 120.8 48.56 48 60 Bedford S Jc 11 06.5 87* 106.2 111 49.67 49 71 Bedford 12 37.0 Slow stop 44.2 11 45.5 108 109.7 51.22 51 34 Oakley Jc OB 12 35.5 115 111.6 53.66 53 70 OB 13 48.5 127 120.3 56.47 56 55 Sharnbrook OB 15 13.5 107 119.0 59.53 59 60 MP 59¾ 16 54.0 110/127 109.6 62.40 62 50 Irchester 18 18.0 126 123.0 64.83 65 04 Wellingborough 19 51.5 80* 93.6 66.26 66 39 Bush Bridge 20 51.5 101 85.8 67.96 68 15 Finedon 21 51.5 102/112 102.0 70.50 70 58 Kettering S Jc 23 17.0 * 106.9 71.77 72 00 Kettering 24 05.5 93* 94.3 74.27 74 40 Glendon S 25 38.0 101 97.3 75.34 75 45 Glendon Bdg 26 14.5 108 105.5 78.04 78 21 Desborough OB 27 45.0 */99/108 107.4 80.21 80 35 Braybrook 29 00.5 106 103.5 82.71 82 75 Market Harborough 30 54.0 59* 79.3 84.33 84 45 Gt Bowden OB 32 14.5 89/102/97 72.4 86.27 86 40 East Langton 33 26.0 98 97.7 87.99 88 17 UB 34 26.0 108/111 103.2

Milepost 35½ -158 - October 2014 Miles M C m s speeds ave m s speeds ave 89.45 89 54 Kibworth N OB 35 14.0 108/110 109.5 91.31 91 43 Great Glen 36 15.5 */99/101 108.9 93.26 93 39 Kilby Br Jc 37 25.0 100 101.0 95.22 95 36 Wigston 38 39.0 80* 95.4 96.36 96 47 OB 39 28.0 90 83.8 97.86 98 07 Knighton T N 40 36.5 */sigs 10/15 78.8 98.85 99 06 Leicester 43 19.0 21.9 . Table 3 Date: Fri 27.6.14 Train: 08.00 Glasgow-Euston Loco: 390.016 10,255hp Load: 9,452.5/460 Weather: Dry, overcast- little wind Recorder/Method: A.Smeaton/Stopwatch Recorder's position: 5/9 Mileage Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Av Spd Remarks 0.00 69 08 CARLISLE d 0 00 ~ Dep RT 0.19 68 73 Carlisle PSB 0 46.3 14.6 1.10 68 00 Upperby 2 44.9 27.7 2.10 67 00 MP 3 38.1 67.7 3.10 66 00 " 4 18.9 88.2 4.10 65 00 " 4 56.5 95.7 4.91 64 15 Wreay 5 27.2 95.3 6.10 63 00 MP 6 11.1 97.4 7.35 61 60 Southwaite 6 52.7 108.2 8.10 61 00 MP 7 15.9 116.4 9.10 60 00 " 7 45.7 120.8 10.71 58 31 Calthwaite 8 32.1 125.1 12.10 57 00 MP 9 11.9 125.5 13.10 56 00 Plumpton 9 40.8 124.6 14.10 55 00 MP 10 10 123.3 16.10 53 00 Long Ashes Crossing 11 10 120.0 17.85 51 20 PENRITH 13 12 11.1 103.1 Psr 95 19.10 50 00 MP 12 58.3 95.3 20.10 49 00 " 13 36.1 95.2 21.10 48 00 Eden Valley Jn (MP) 14 15.5 91.4 22.10 47 00 Clifton 15 08 68.6 Tsr 22.60 46 40 MP 15 40.1 56.1 27.44 41 53 Harrison's Siding 19 11.1 82.5 28.10 41 00 MP 19 35.8 96.6 29.10 40 00 " 20 11 102.3 29.38 39 58 Shap 20 20 110.0 30.10 39 00 MP 20 44.5 106.5 30.85 38 20 " 21 15.7 86.5 Psr 80 31.48 37 50 Shap Summit (Sign) 21 ½ 21 43.7 80.4 32.10 37 00 MP 22 10.5 84.0 33.10 36 00 " 22 47 98.6 33.95 35 12 Scout Green 23 13.4 115.9 35.10 34 00 MP 23 46.6 124.7 36.10 33 00 " 24 15 126.8 36.89 32 17 Tebay 25 24 37.9 123.8 37.60 31 40 MP 24 58 127.6 39.10 30 00 " 25 42.1 122.4 41.10 28 00 " 26 54.2 99.9 42.10 27 00 " 27 38.6 81.1 Psr 80

Milepost 35½ -159 - October 2014 Mileage Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Av Spd Remarks 42.94 26 13 Grayrigg 29 28 15.5 81.7 44.10 25 00 MP 29 04 86.3 44.85 24 20 Lambrigg 29 32.2 95.7 46.60 22 40 MP 30 37.8 96.0 48.10 21 00 " 31 33.9 96.3 49.10 20 00 " 32 11.2 96.5 50.00 19 08 OXENHOLME 33 ½ 32 46.1 92.8 Psr 90 51.10 18 00 MP 33 29.9 90.4 52.10 17 00 " 34 05 102.6 53.60 15 40 Hincaster Jn 34 53.9 110.4 55.10 14 00 MP 35 41.5 113.4 55.56 13 43 Milnthorpe 35 55.6 118.1 57.10 12 00 MP 36 40.2 124.1 58.35 10 60 Burton 37 16.4 124.3 59.10 10 00 MP 37 37.9 125.6 59.60 9 40 Minor Summit 37 52.5 123.3 61.10 8 00 MP 38 35.8 124.7 62.10 7 00 " 39 04 127.7 62.85 6 20 Carnforth 41 ½ 39 27.2 116.4 64.10 5 00 MP 40 08 110.3 64.71 4 31 Bolton-le-Sands 40 26.8 117.3 65.96 3 11 Hest Bank 41 03 124.3 66.60 2 40 MP 41 22.8 115.9 67.19 1 73 Morecambe S Jn 43 ½ 41 43.4 102.7 68.10 1 00 MP 42 40.1 57.9 Psr 75 69.10 0 00 LANCASTER 45 ½ 44 29.6 32.9 . Table 4 For Table 4 we return to the Day/Date Thursday 22nd May 2014 Midland Main Line with an Train 17:38 Sheffield-St. Pancras offering from John Rishton Motive Power 222.013 between Chesterfield and Belper, Load (tons) 5/197/210 = 14.3 hp/ton a recently introduced section for Weather wet Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 4/5 - Stopwatch the Sheffield to St Pancras Miles mm cc location WTT Sch mm:ss:dd avge services. John’s comments are:- 0.00 145 32 Chesterfield 0 00:00:00 T Another good start and most of 0.86 145 32 Chesterfield south j 1.5 01:30:00 34.4 the journey then undertaken at 2.96 143 24 Avenue 02:56:00 87.9 fractionally below the line limit. 3.26 143 00 Clay Cross north j 3 03:07:30 93.7 There did however appear to 4.72 147 22 Clay Cross tunnel 04:01:00 98.2 have been rather early braking 5.74 146 20 Clay Cross tunnel 04:37:00 102.0 for the Ambergate restrictions. 9.48 142 42 Amber Mill 06:40:00 109.5 Probably due to a lack of 12.26 139 59 Wingfield tunnel 08:12:00 108.8 familiarity the approach to the 13.84 138 13 Toadmoor tunnel 09:19:00 84.9 Belper stop was taken much 14.25 137 60 Ambergate junction 9 09:38:00 77.8 more cautiously than that for 16.36 135 51 Belper 11.5 11:57:00 54.6 Chesterfield.

For Table 5 we continue south from Chesterfield with runs in both directions to Derby, recorded by J Michael Bruce. Both runs were recorded with HST’s on Cross Country services, with good work by both drivers. The schedule appears to be relatively lax in both directions, possibly not reflecting the increased line speed limits.

Milepost 35½ -160 - October 2014 Table 5 Date Sat 7 June 14 Sat 7 June 14 Train 0745 York- 1235 Paignton-Glasgow Penzance Loco 43366/368 43301/378 Load 7:230/2xx Tons 7:230/2xx Recorder J Michael Bruce J Michael Bruce Position/Gps 6 of 9 6 of 9 miles Location m s mph m s mph 0.00 Derby d 0 00 1/4 L 0.00 Chesterfield a 0 00 2 3/4 L 2.89 Breadsall Jn RR 4 01 92 3.24 Clay Cross N Jn 3 27 94 5.29 Duffield 5 28 107 4.69 Clay Cross TNP 4 14 100 6.01 Milford TSP 5 49 109 5.72 Clay Cross TSP 4 50 106 6.49 Milford TNP 6 09 109 6.63 Stretton 5 40 108/114 7.81 Belper 6 52 101 12.39 Wingfield TNP 8 23 105 9.93 Ambergate Jn 8 24 80 12.54 Wingfield TSP 8 31 104 10.26 Toadmoor T'nl 8 37 80 14.22 Ambergate Jn 9 46 80* 11.61 Wingfield TSP 9 36 94 16.34 Belper 11 10 100 18.43 Clay Cross TSP 13 19 114 17.66 Milford TNP 11 57 108 19.46 Clay Cross TNP 13 52 103 18.14 Milford TSP 12 12 108 20.91 Clay Cross N Jn 14 35 112 18.86 Duffield 12 36 112 24.15 Chesterfield a 17 19 2E 21.26 Breadsall Jn RR 13 55 111 24.15 Derby d 17 38 3/4 L . We cross to the Chiltern line, in Table 6, for a Class 67 hauled run between Marleybourne and Bicester North by John Rishton. John’s comments are:- A Class 67 in top form. The start was one of my best ever and superior to any Class 168 effort I have experienced. From catching the speed between tunnels at Hampstead I felt that I could well be on a winner- as long as the train in front cleared out of our way punctually at High Wycombe.

Table 6 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph ave Day/Date Saturday 17th May 2014 12.09 0 48 Ruislip Gardens 11:28 100 100.3 Train 1706 Marylebone-Snow Hill 13.35 1 69 West Ruislip 13 12:14 98 98.7 Motive Power 67.017 + 6 Mk3 TSO + DVT 16.13 4 51 Denham 13:54 98 100.1 Load (tons) 341/350 = 9.1 hp/ton 16.99 5 40 Denham Golf Club 14:25 98 99.8 Weather dry 18.71 7 18 Gerrards Cross 16.5 15:28 98 98.3 Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 3/8 - GPS 21.44 9 76 Seer Green 17:08 98 98.3 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph ave 23.01 11 42 Beaconsfield 18:04 101 100.9 0.00 205 74 Marylebone 0 00:00 r/time 0.0 24.84 13 28 Whitehouse tunnel 19:10 98 99.8 0.45 205 38 St. Johns Wood tunnel 01:18 31 20.8 27.84 16 28 High Wycombe 22.5 21:30 57 77.2 1.49 204 35 Hampstead tunnel 02:39 50 46.2 29.01 17 42 Downley 22:41 64 59.3 2.29 203 51 West Hampstead LUL 03:40 47 47.2 30.95 19 37 A4010 24:19 81 71.2 2.93 203 00 Kilburn LUL 04:30 39rbt 46.1 32.81 21 26 Saunderton 26.5 25:40 85 82.7 3.73 202 16 Willesden Green LUL 05:29 55 48.8 33.91 22 34 Lea Road [1] 26:27 82 84.3 4.45 201 38 Dollis Hill LUL 06:13 64 58.9 35.99 24 40 Princess Risborough 30 27:56 86 84.2 5.10 200 66 Neasden south junction 7 06:45 76 73.2 39.86 28 28 Haddenham Road 30:19 99 97.4 6.50 4 79 Wembley Stadium 8.5 07:50 82 77.6 41.78 30 21 Hadd & Thame Pkwy 33.5 31:29 99 98.8 7.81 3 54 Sudbury & Harrow Rd 08:46 86 84.2 43.28 31 61 Chearsley Road 32:24 98 98.1 8.74 2 60 Sudbury Hill Harrow 09:24 90 88.2 45.25 33 59 Valley Farm 33:37 96 97.6 9.76 1 58 Northolt Park 10:04 94 91.8 47.73 2 29 Brill tunnel 35:08 99 97.7 10.59 0 72 Northolt Park junction 11.5 10:35 101 96.5 51.64 6 22 Blackthorn 37:27 101 100.0 11.56 0 06 South Ruislip 12 11:09 102 102.6 53.62 8 21 A4421 38:44 82 98.2 54.69 9 29 Bicester North 42 40:12 0 43.8 Paralleling the Underground tracks we kept nearer to the permitted speed than usual, a running brake test excepted and without much trouble we were soon into high speed territory once past Neasden Jn.

Milepost 35½ -161 - October 2014 The only adverse comments I could make are that it took a while to reapply power after the High Wycombe curves and the easing over junctions such as West Ruislip and Ashendon. The final braking into Bicester was good and by coming to a firm stop we had taken almost two minutes from the schedule, although one was an unused allowance.

It will be interesting to see if the introduction of the Class 68’s will see a decrease in the current timings, probably not, unless there are line speed improvements.

Table 7 In Table 7 we turn to the Date 30/7/14 Great Western Lines with Train 1206 Worcester F St-Paddington a run recorded by John Power Cars 180103 Heaton between Pershore Vehicles/tonnes tare/gross 5/253/260 and Evesham. John Recorder/Position/GPS J. Heaton 4/5 Yes comments:- All engines Miles M. Chns Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Average working on the Adelante 0.00 112 51 Pershore d. 0 0 0 1L which I used from Reading 2.83 109 65 Fladbury 2 22 88/93 71.6 to Worcester with good 5.76 106 70 Evesham S.B. 5 19 36 59.7 5.96 106 54 Evesham a. 6 5 59 18.0 starts and slow stops. .

Table 8 Table 8 has another offering Unit 158903 from John between Leeds and Load 2/77/82 Shipley. John comments;- This Train 19.19 Leeds-Ribblehead was the area where I was first Date 1/7/14 appointed a supervisor so I Recorder/Position/GPS J Heaton 2/2 Y always appreciate one of my Miles M. Chns Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Ave. now rare runs over this section, 0.00 185 68 LEEDS d. 0 0 0 P 4 bay even if the Shipley platform at 0.54 185 25 Whitehall Jct 1½ 1 24 30 23.1 which we stopped did not exist 195 56 then. It is the first time I have 0.97 196 17 Armley Jct 2½ 2 24 25.8 been on the famous Ribblehead 2.83 197 76 Kirkstall Jct 4 4 77/76 67.0 terminator, an interesting trip 5.77 200 74 Calverley &R 6 19 81/84 78.4 even though it was one of the 6.84 202 0 Apperley Jct 8 7 6 80 82.0 former West Yorks Class 158’s 8.38 203 43 Thackley TEP 8 22 69 72.9 with very poor legroom. It felt as 10.42 205 46 Dockfield Jct 11 10 36 40 54.8 though the driver was trying not 10.74 205 72 SHIPLEY a. 12 11 29 21.7 to get too far ahead of time on Timed for 75mph sprinter the 75mph timings.

Table 9 has two consecutive sections between Huddersfield and Liverpool on a Newcastle to Liverpool service, which is now routed via Manchester Victoria. John Rishton comments on his two runs;- Attached find result of a recent spur of the moment Huddersfield to Liverpool trip - without my GPS - on the new service routed via Victoria. I can't find an entry in the listings yet but hope this will trigger one. I will try the eastbound sometime, perhaps on the day of the next Leeds meeting. With a six minute gap following the previous departure to Manchester we got a better run than my previous fastest run to Manchester Victoria. The start however was surprisingly slower but a good advantage was gained by Slaithwaite and running was then around half a minute to the good most of the way to Miles Platting. The speed shown at Stalybridge hides as sharp reduction down to 20mph between passing the subway entrance and the junction at the Manchester end of the station. A time of 30 minutes

Milepost 35½ -162 - October 2014 Table 9 Run 1 2 3 Day/Date Tuesday 19th August 2014 Tuesday 22nd July 2014 Weds 27th August 2014 Train 1406 Newcastle-Liverpool 12:06 Newcastle to Liverpool 12:06 Newcastle to Liverpool Motive Power 185.126 185.104 185.123 Load (tons) 163/175=12.9hp/ton 163/175 = 12.9 hp/ton 163/175 = 12.9 hp/ton Weather dry dry, hot Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 1/3 - Stopwatch F G Collins - 1/3 - GPS Miles mm cc location Sch mm:s s ave Sch mm:s s ave 0.00 25 61 Huddersfield 0 00:00 2L Run 1 0 00:00 RT 0.71 25 04 Gledholt tunnel (0.5) 01:31 28.1 (0.5) 01:35 26.9 4.52 21 19 Slaithwaite 05:31 57.2 05:29 - /61 58.5 7.10 18 53 Marsden 7.5 08:03 61.1 7.5 07:56 -/45* 63.4 11.02 14 59 Diggle junction 11 12:07 57.8 11 11:56 63/66 58.8 13.07 12 55 Greenfield 13 14:01 64.7 13 13:50 62/66/61 64.5 15.26 10 40 Mossley 16:02 65.2 15:55 64/65/sigs 24 63.3 17.86 7 72 Stalybridge 18 19:07 50.6 18 19:24 30/*/45 44.8 19.30 6 33 Ashton 21:29 36.5 21:50 43 35.5 20.06 5 52 Ashton Moss north J 21.5 22:30 44.8 21.5 22:54 40 tsr/71 42.7 23.22 2 39 Baguley Fold J 24.5 26:08 52.2 24.5 26:33 61 51.9 23.96 1 60 Phillips Park west J 25.5 [2] 26:55 56.6 25.5 [2] 27:17 38 60.5 24.32 1 31 Miles Platting junction 28 27:30 37.0 28 27:54 30*/44 35.0 25.71 0 00 Manchester Victoria 31 30:36 25.5 31 30:42 29.8 0.00 31 50 Manchester Victoria 0 00:00 1L Run2 0 00:00 2 1/2 late 0.54 31 07 Deal Street junction 1.5 01:27 22.3 1.5 0.69 30 75 Salford Central 01:50 23.5 02:00 25 20.7 1.15 30 38 Ordsall Lane J 3 03:01 23.3 3 03:12 24 23.0 2.46 29 13 Seedley 04:45 45.4 4.08 27 44 Eccles 6 06:03 74.8 6 06:26 77 54.4 5.05 26 46 Patricroft 13 06:49 75.9 13 07:12 77 75.9 6.72 24 72 M62 08:12 72.5 08:30 77 77.1 8.95 22 54 Astley 10 10:24 60.8 10 10:21 62/61* 72.3 10.83 20 64 Glazebury 11:54 75.2 11:56 82/91 71.2 12.71 18 73 Kenyon junction 13:08 91.5 13:13 78/tsr 62 87.9 14.88 16 60 Parkside junction 14 14:34 90.8 14 15:06 76 69.1 15.89 15 59 Newton-le-Willows 15 15:20 79.1 15 15:54 77 75.8 16.89 14 59 Earlestown 16 16:02 85.7 16 16:39 88/91 80.0 19.75 11 70 St. Helens Junction 18 17:56 90.3 18 18:33 90 90.3 20.90 10 58 Lea Green 18:42 90.0 19:20 89 88.1 22.71 8 73 Rainhill 20 19:54 90.5 20 20:33 91/93 89.3 23.98 7 52 Whiston 20:46 87.9 21:23 92/90 91.4 25.66 5 77 Huyton junction 21.5 22:00 81.8 21.5 22:29 92 91.6 25.91 5 57 Huyton [2] 22:27 tsr 33.3 [2] 22:39 92 90.0 26.45 5 14 Roby 23:05 51.2 23:00 90 92.6 28.04 3 47 Broad Green 24:57 51.1 24:04 85 89.4 28.95 2 54 Olive Mount junction 26 26:00 52.0 26 29.26 2 29 Wavertree Technology Pk 26:21 53.1 25:06 56 70.8 29.65 1 78 Bootle branch junction 26.5 26:59 37.0 26.5 sigs 30.24 1 31 Edge Hill 27 28:20 26.2 27 27:16 17 27.1 31.18 0 36 Mount Pleasant tunnel 31:37 17.2 31.60 0 02 Liverpool Lime ST 32 33:26 13.9 32 32:12 16.5 should be easily obtained, indeed if the recovery time is stripped out, a run of 28.5 minutes should be awaiting the lucky recorder.

From Manchester Victoria a good start. Once the new link to Piccadily and the widening around Huyton are completed the rest of the journey may also allow an even time run. The

Milepost 35½ -163 - October 2014 last few miles, as ever, were painful as I watched the overall average speed slip down. Still, better than an ‘all stations’ or via Warrington Central.

Frank Collins comments;- a recent visit to the north gave an opportunity to sample one of the new Newcastle – Liverpool services throughout. It’s a shame that the schedule has to be a couple of minutes over the even three hours but perhaps the electrification works will achieve what’s needed to reduce it. We made an unambitious climb to Standedge Tunnel – perhaps the unit was working in eco-mode at this point with one engine out. It’s unfortunate that the recent remodelling at Stalybridge has left such a slow speed junction back onto the original route – surely this cannot be necessary, especially as this is likely to become the main route again when the new Piccadilly – Victoria link is commissioned.

It’s very many years since I have traversed the Chat Moss line – good of course to see it electrified and pushed up to a semi-respectable line speed. The station overtime at Victoria probably made us late enough to get a much clearer approach through the Liverpool suburbs than John’s run, but the tsr after Kenyon Junction and the slight check at Edge Hill were enough to exclude a mile-a-minute time.

A journey over this route is quite an eye opener. You are surrounded constantly by reminders of the sheer scale of former railway infrastructure especially in the Manchester area; vast tracts of former railway land, yards, depots now abandoned and overgrown; formations reduced from 4 tracks to 2; massive viaducts now seriously underused or abandoned completely. Both of the eastern approach routes from Stalybridge into the Manchester terminals are desperately slow, and surely unnecessarily so. Manchester Victoria, is perhaps rather smarter than it used to be but is a shadow of its former self, reduced from 17 platforms to 6. Journey times west are constrained by the heavily curvaceous exit round to Ordsall Lane but also by the extraordinary approach to Liverpool. Surely it is no longer necessary to restrict speed to 30 mph for the last 1 ½ miles through Edge Hill down to Lime Street; 60 mph here would save a good 2 minutes and add so much capacity. When we emerged into Lime Street it was to double up platform occupancy in platform 1; the unit departed back to Newcastle just 4 minutes later. I assume the diagrams are booked that way rather than a 64 minute turnaround, but that does seem extraordinary for what should be the prestige fast Trans Pennine Express service.

Table 10 Run 1 2 Date Sat 5-Jan-14 Sat 5-Jan-14 Train 1500 Glasgow-Ayr 1150 Ayr-Glasgow Loco 380102 380112 Load 4,165/170 4,165/170 Recorder, pos gps M Robertson1/4 Y M Robertson1/4 Y miles m c Location m s mph ave miles m c Location m s mph ave 0.00 102 16 Glasgow C P14 0 00.0 0.00 26 0 Kilwinning a 0 00.0 101 55 0.52 25 37 Ov Br 0 49.5 54 37.8 0.51 0 1 Cook St und 1 52.0 21*/rbt29 0.90 25 7 Garnock Viad 1 11.5 70 62.2 1.10 0 48 Shields Road 3 10.0 41 27.2 2.16 23 66 Ov Br 2 08.0 87 80.3 1.97 1 38 M77 Ob (E) 4 12.0 59 50.5 3.50 22 39 Dalry 3 02.5 89 88.5 2.54 2 3 A761 Ob W 4 40.5 75 72.0 4.32 21 52 Brownhill (S'th) 3 36.5 90 86.8 3.66 3 13 Cardonald 5 35.4 74 73.4 4.97 21 9 Brownhill (N'th) 3 58.5 90 94.5 4.25 3 60 Hillington E 6 04.0 73 74.3 6.21 19 62 Glengarnock 4 52.0 89 83.4 4.89 4 31 Hillington W 6 41.5 43sc 61.4 8.06 17 74 Bieth 6 07.0 92 88.8 5.97 5 38 Arkelston Jn 7 55.0 64 52.9 8.96 17 4 F'path 6 39.0 91 101.3 6.36 5 69 Footbridge 8 18.0 53 61.0 10.32 15 55 Lochwinnoch 7 36.5 87/85 85.1 7.10 6 48 Paisley G'r St 9 15.0 44* 46.7 11.95 14 1 Sign 8 45.5 90 85.0 7.16 6 53 13.02 12 79 Howood 9 28.5 88 89.6 6 73 14.46 11 44 Milliken Park 10 27.5 89 87.9

Milepost 35½ -164 - October 2014 miles m c Location m s mph ave miles m c Location m s mph ave 7.71 7 37 Und Br 10 01.0 61 47.7 15.89 10 10 Johnstone 11 29.0 90/79 83.7 9.16 8 73 Elderslie 11 11.5 80 74.0 17.10 8 73 Elderslie 12 23.5 81 79.9 10.37 10 10 Johnstone 12 05.5 80 80.7 18.55 7 37 Und Br 13 33.5 53br 74.6 11.80 11 44 Milliken Park 13 04.0 90 88.0 26.26 6 73 13.24 12 79 Howood 14 02.5 89 88.6 19.10 6 53 14.31 14 1 Sign 14 47.0 88/91 86.6 19.16 6 48 Paisley G'r St 14 22.0 44* 45.3 15.94 15 55 Lochwinnoch 15 53.0 90 88.9 19.90 5 69 Footbridge 15 16.5 60 48.9 17.30 17 4 F'path 16 51.5 91 83.7 20.29 5 38 Arkelston Jn 15 38.5 67 63.8 18.20 17 74 Bieth 17 32.5 90 79.0 21.37 4 31 Hillington W 16 35.0 73 68.8 20.05 19 62 Glengarnock 18 38.0 90 101.7 22.01 3 60 Hillington E 17 06.5 75 73.1 21.29 21 9 Brownhill (N'th) 19 30.5 89 85.0 22.60 3 13 Cardonald 17 34.5 75/64sc 75.9 21.94 21 52 Brownhill (S'th) 19 53.0 88 104.0 23.72 2 3 A761 Ob W 18 33.0 73 68.9 22.76 22 39 Dalry 20 27.0 88 93.7 24.29 1 38 M77 Ob (E) 19 01.5 70 72.0 24.10 23 66 Ov Br 21 21.5 89 88.5 25.16 0 48 Shields Road 20 05.0 42 49.3 25.36 25 7 Garnock Viad 22 13.5 75 87.2 25.75 0 1 Cook St und 21 20.5 19* 28.1 25.74 25 37 Ov Br 22 34.5 62 65.1 26.26 101 55 26.26 26 0 Kilwinning a 23 36.0 30.4 26.26 102 16 Glasgow C P14 24 05.0 11.2

Finally Table 10 has my current fastest times between Glasgow and Kilwinning on the ‘fast’ Ayr services. Both runs were a model as regards speeds and achieved the ft’s with better than average entries and exits from stations. The averages closely match the recorded speeds other than the Glengarnock to Beith area. There does appear to be a milepost discrepancy in the area, which Ian Umpleby acknowledges in the Mileage chart. I did trawl through the old OS Maps of the area, which showed Milepost locations, but never came to a definitive value. It is difficult to check on the line as the Mileposts are poorly maintained in the area.

As always I am pleased to receive details of new Fastest Times by electronic or paper methods. My email address is included below the Magazine contents page.

FROM THE RPS WEBSITE

Cross Country/Virgin 220/221s with engines out Aussie Information Todmorden curve – further delays Afternoon peak restrictions – Northern Manchester Piccadilly-Oxford Rd – promotional video Hamilton Square – temporary closure Swanage Railway “extended” Various Club 55 promotions GPS Speed Apps Peterborough-Spalding resignalling Bristol IEP depot trackwork Whifflet electrification Whitby line PSR changes Gospel Oak PSR changes

Milepost 35½ -165 - October 2014 A SECOND DELVE INTO MY HISTORY BOOKS

John Rishton

Following on from my article in Milepost 35¼ detailing a selection of my logs from around 1970, here is a further short selection from that era. Despite my opening comments in the previous article there is a theme this time – the Midland route from Birmingham towards Bristol.

The first two runs were made from Birmingham to Bristol during the summer 1969 timetable. The running was poor due to a high number of checks encountered en route but the trains made two deviations from the current routing which help to make up for the lack of other interesting aspects.

Class 47-hauled Run 1 left New Street three minutes down and made a very good start up the bank to Church Road. There was no local service to speak of along the line in the 1960s and progress was unhindered to Kings Norton, passed in just under nine minutes. Acceleration was good from Kings Norton to north of Barnt Green where we commenced coasting. I assumed this was due to the 4½ minutes recovery in the schedule which would put us back on time at the regional boundary just beyond Barnt Green but with brakes on before the top of the Lickey it soon became apparent that there was something ahead. Presumably it was a Worcester-bound train calling at Bromsgrove as we were not troubled by it after being brought to a stand both on the bank and again opposite the station’s (then) single platform whilst the train ahead made its way towards Stoke Works junction. It was only since Easter that year that Bromsgrove, with its sparse train service in those days, was reduced to a single platform, on the up side. The rationalisation may have been in preparation for the Gloucester power signal box taking over the signalling in the area or to save the cost of renewing the station footbridge. Today, with a much more frequent train service, both calling at Bromsgrove and of trains passing through, there are two platforms again. Soon, in connection with the extension of the Cross City service from Lichfield, it will have a new station slightly south of the current location

No sooner had we began to pick up speed than we were braking again, this time for a 20 mph temporary speed restriction at Hay Lane. A clear road followed and we were soon into the 70s on the gently falling grades only to be checked by, I think, late work by the signalman controlling Morris Hill crossing. So, 58¾ minutes to Cheltenham. I have since made the journey in less time via Worcester.

Beyond Cheltenham, now five minutes late, a little more interesting is the routing via Gloucester Eastgate. With the aid of 1½ minutes recovery we had shaved three minutes off our deficit by the Gloucester stop, all with a maximum speed of 70 mph. This line, closed in 1975, diverted southwards immediately after Horton Road crossing and re-joined the current route at Tuffley. There were several level crossings on the now closed route and these were probably the reason for closure – leaving Gloucester the poorer with next to no long distance services on the ‘Midland’ route now calling in the city.

Away two minutes late we re-joined the main line only to face two further temporary speed restrictions near Haresfield and Berkeley Road, the first to 50 mph and the latter down to a more severe 20 mph. Four further minutes down by Charfield, we made a good climb and managed to break into the 70s on the climb up to Wickwar tunnel. We then sped through Yate and onto the long closed Fishponds route into Bristol. By Mangotsfield it appeared possible, with the aid of three minutes recovery time, to be able to make up both the late start and time lost since Gloucester as we had eight minutes left to cover the last five miles. But it was not to be and we were heavily checked approaching the Great Western main line,

Milepost 35½ -166 - October 2014 Run 1 2 Day/Date Saturday 28th 1969 Thursday 11th September 1969 Train 0808 Wolverhampton-Penzance 0617 Derby-Taunton Motive Power class 47, number unknown class 45, number unknown Load (tons) 11/470/500 8/380/390 Weather dry drizzle Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 2/11 - Stopwatch J Rishton - 2/8 - Stopwatch Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s speed* avge WTT mm:s s speed* avge 0.00 42 24 Birmingham New Street 0 00:00 3L 0 00:00 4 late 1.46 43 61 Church Road tunnel 03:48 40 23.1 04:05 35 21.5 3.34 45 51 Selly Oak [4.5] 06:06 54 49.0 07:09 45 36.8 4.40 46 56 Bourneville 07:18 52 53.0 08:33 47 45.4 5.44 47 59 Kings Norton 08:56 30 38.2 10 10:17 35 36.0 8.01 49 20 Longbridge Lane 12:55 54 38.7 13:12 65 52.9 10.56 51 64 Barnt Green 21 15:48 51sigs 53.1 15.5 15:28 sigs 69/25sigs 67.5 12.01 53 20 Blackwell 22.5 17:35 40/ss 44s 48.8 17 17:38 sigs 40/10sigs 40.2 14.10 55 27 St. Godwalds Road /ss 38s 22:16 45 27.1 16.26 57 40 Stoke Works 28.5 28:43 41 22.9 23 24:31 65 57.6 19.94 61 14 Hay Lane 33:55 20tsr 42.5 27:25 80 76.1 21.51 62 60 Oddingley 36:31 46 36.2 28:36 79 79.6 24.75 65 79 Pershore Lane 39:46 71 59.8 31:09 71 76.2 27.51 68 60 Abbotswood junction 38 41:58 75 75.3 33 33:55 tsr 50tsr 59.8 32.26 73 40 Defford (1) 45:42 74 76.3 37:50 81 72.8 34.65 75 71 Bredon's Norton 47:42 70 71.7 39:36 79 81.2 38.26 79 40 Ashchurch 47.5 50:49 71 69.5 41.5 42:25 sigs 65sigs 76.9 41.69 82 74 Cleve 53:51 66sigs 67.9 45:35 66/ss4m10s 65.0 43.70 85 03 Morris Hill 55:33 72 70.9 52:33 31 17.3 44.85 86 07 Arle Road 56:39 55 62.7 54:11 49 42.3 45.49 86 58 Cheltenham Spa 55 58:43 33.9 49 55:25 37.5 0 58 60:06 5 late 51 56:47 10 late 0.27 87 00 Lansdowne junction 1 01:11 25 13.7 1 01:02 33 15.7 2.02 88 60 Badgeworth [1.5] 03:11 68 52.5 02:52 74 57.3 3.10 89 66 Churchdown 04:08 68 68.2 03:43 76 76.2 4.27 91 00 MP 05:09 70 69.0 04:39 75 75.2 5.53 92 20 Barnwood junction 8.5 06:44 40 47.8 6.5 06:14 35 47.8 6.14 92 70 Horton Road 10 07:49 20 33.8 8 07:20 25 33.3 6.38 93 09 Gloucester Eastgate 11 08:40 0 16.9 9 08:04 0 19.6 0 14 11:01 2 late 11 09:57 9 late 1.64 94 60 Tuffley junction 3 03:08 47 31.4 3 02:49 45 34.9 5.66 98 62 Haresfield 07:11 50tsr 59.6 06:42 75 62.1 6.90 100 01 Standish junction 8.5 08:28 68 57.9 8.5 07:40 78 76.9 10.30 103 33 Frocester 11:15 76 73.3 10:18 78 77.5 13.18 106 24 A38 13:32 75 75.7 12:31 78 77.9 16.08 109 16 Berkeley Road south junction 18:30 22tsr 35.0 14:44 79 78.5 20.06 113 14 Charfield 19 23:02 68 52.7 19 17:42 81 80.5 21.88 115 00 Wickwar 24:34 74 71.2 19:05 78 79.0 25.00 118 09 Tanhouse Lane 27:06 76 73.0 21:25 81 80.2 26.68 119 64 Yate 25 28:38 63 67.2 25 23:05 sigs 55sigs 60.5 29.12 122 19 Westerleigh junction [3] 30:45 74 69.2 [7] 25:54 45 52.0 31.43 124 44 Mangotsfield north junction 32:56 30 63.5 29:07 30 43.1 32.02 125 11 Mangotsfield west junction 34:06 31 30.3 30:12 32 32.7 34.85 127 77 Kingswood junction 38:07 45 42.3 34:30 45/ss 4s 39.5 36.74 129 68 company boundary 42:00 9sigs 29.2 38:10 sigs 12sigs 30.9 37.04 118 30 Bristol Temple Meads 42 44:45 0 6.5 48 40:32 0 7.6 * Speeds generally calculated from milepost sightings as near to timing point as possible. then almost brought to a stand approaching a platform at Temple Meads. Arrival was five minutes late but apparently that was quite a good result for a summer Saturday!

Milepost 35½ -167 - October 2014

I think the Mangotsfield route into Bristol closed at the end of the 1969 summer timetable. Run 2 was over the same route but with a lighter load and on a weekday. Despite three fewer coaches we were a full minute slower to Selly Oak, all due to the damp weather and the engine having great difficulty in getting a grip over the extensive point work immediately on departure from New Street. The rising gradient of 1 in 80 up to Church Road did not help. We were through Kings Norton at a more liberal 35 mph, over 1¼ minutes behind Run 1, but then the Class 45 on Run 2 showed what it could do and recovered all the arears by milepost 50.

However we also had problems with congestion at Bromsgrove and were brought down to 10 mph on the bank before getting a clear road such that we had dropped 1½ minutes by Stoke Works. Note that, unlike the Saturday schedule, there was no recovery time until the final stage into Bristol.

I presume the line speed was 80 mph at the time of the runs as we quickly accelerated to around that speed and then settled at speeds around that, except for a reduction to 50 mph at Abbotswood, until we were checked and then brought to a stand for four minutes just north of Morris Hill crossing. As a result our journey to Cheltenham was nearly 6½ minutes slower than scheduled.

After a brief stop we departed Cheltenham 10 minutes late for the short hop to Gloucester and despite no attempt to exceed 75 mph we made up a minute and departed nine minutes down. Without the temporary restrictions that applied during Run 1 we were soon cruising along at 80 mph until signals intervened in the Yate area. Speed then gradually fell as we approached Mangotsfield curve but we had gained two minutes between Gloucester and Yate and there was seven minutes of recovery time to come, so maybe the driver was anticipating an on time arrival at Temple Meads. A brief signal stand as we joined the Great Western route put paid to that but it was still a good time from Gloucester on what was to be my last ever trip over the route.

Run 3 was a journey where I alighted at Cheltenham, however it was almost six minutes faster than either of the two previous runs and thus included for comparison purposes. It suffered from a very cautious start and ran out to Kings Norton no faster than the average, but signal checked, run today. The driver kept to around 45 mph over this initial stage and only worked up to 60 mph onwards to Barnt Greet. The usual caution was displayed going over the summit at Blackwell and down the Lickey the brakes were audibly applied enough to hold the acceleration from gravity back to the mid-70s. Yet by the 60 mph speed restriction at Stoke Works we had gained a minute on schedule so we presumably had a driver who knew precisely what he was doing. We were also 2½ and 6½ minutes in front of the previous runs! However, noting we had departed Birmingham four minutes down, I would have appreciated the journey more had the driver pushed his loco that bit harder.

We continued to Abbotswood in the same unhurried style with a maximum speed of just over 70 mph but after the permanent restriction at that junction we hit new highs in the mid-70s. Content to keep a minute in hand on to Ashchurch it looked like an early arrival at Cheltenham was possible but then adverse signals intervened and we crawled on to Cheltenham arriving a half-minute late.

Runs 4 and 5 were both routed via Worcester, as a few trains did in the late 1960s and 70s

Milepost 35½ -168 - October 2014 Run 3 After a brief stop, Day/Date Monday 25th August 1969 we departed Train 1010 Newcastle-Cardiff Motive Power class 45, number unknown Cheltenham 10 Load (tons) 11/475/485 minutes late for Weather dry the short hop to Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 2/11 - Stopwatch Gloucester and, Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s speed* avge despite no attempt 0.00 42 24 Birmingham New Street 0 00:00 4 late 0.0 to exceed 75 mph, 1.46 43 61 Church Road tunnel 04:32 26 19.3 we made up a 3.34 45 51 Selly Oak 07:27 45 38.7 minute and 4.40 46 56 Bourneville 08:45 49 48.9 departed nine 5.44 47 59 Kings Norton 10 10:28 31 36.3 minutes down. 8.01 49 20 Longbridge Lane 13:29 61 51.1 Without the 10.56 51 64 Barnt Green 15.5 16:02 60 60.0 temporary 12.01 53 20 Blackwell 17 17:37 40 54.9 restrictions that 14.10 55 27 St. Godwalds Road 20:08 76 49.8 applied during Run 16.26 57 40 Stoke Works 23 22:00 61 69.4 1 we were soon 19.94 61 14 Hay Lane 25:21 71 65.9 cruising along at 20.91 62 12 Dunhampstead 26:09 73 72.8 80 mph until 21.51 62 60 Oddingley 26:39 73 72.0 signals intervened 24.75 65 79 Pershore Lane 29:20 71 72.5 in the Yate area. 27.51 68 60 Abbotswood junction 33 31:39 69 71.5 Speed then 32.26 73 40 Defford 35:30 76 74.0 34.65 75 71 Bredon's Norton 37:24 76 75.5 gradually fell as 38.26 79 40 Ashchurch 41.5 40:24 65 72.2 we approached 41.69 82 74 Cleve 43:20 74 70.2 Mangotsfield curve 43.70 85 03 Morris Hill 45:30 40sigs 55.7 but we had gained 44.85 86 07 Arle Road 47:20 32 37.6 two minutes 45.49 86 58 Cheltenham Spa 49 49:33 0 17.3 between *Speeds generally calculated from milepost sightings at nearest timing point

Gloucester and Yate and there was seven minutes of recovery time to come so maybe the driver was anticipating an on time arrival at Temple Meads. A brief signal stand as we joined the Great Western route put paid to that but it was still a good time from Gloucester on what was to be my last ever trip over the route.

Run 4 made the second best time so far to Kings Norton despite a relaying slack at Church Road but failed to accelerate hard up the following climb to Barnt Green. It had gained a minute from New Street, though. A cautious run down the bank and approach to Stoke Works followed and then came the usual moderate speeds before the crawl into Droitwich. Our speed then reached the high 60s before the approach to Worcester steadied progress but we managed an on-time arrival at Shrub Hill.

This run became my most punctual run of the year onwards to Bristol. A maximum of around 45 mph was all we managed before Norton junction and Abbotswood is severely restricted from the Worcester line but once back on the main line we soon reached 80 mph and continued at good speeds, including an unchecked run into Cheltenham, arriving a half minute early. My note book adds that the coach bounced quite noticeably at Ashchurch and though it was the fastest I had passed through that year the difference was marginal. It does however suggest that the braking for Ashcurch on my 11 September run may have been for a temporary speed restriction and not signals as I noted at the time.

The run on to Gloucester was only about average – but we were on time, arriving at Eastgate two and a half minutes early.

Milepost 35½ -169 - October 2014

Run 4 5 Day/Date Monday 14th July 1969 Tuesday 26th January 1971 Train 0735 Sheffield Mid-Paignton 1226 Manchester-Bristol Motive Power class 47, number unknown class 47, number unknown Load (tons) 9/405/420 11/450/460 Weather hot dry Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 2/9 - Stopwatch J Rishton - 2/11 - Stopwatch Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s speed* average WTT mm:s s speed* average 0.00 42 24 Birmingham New Street 0 00:00 3 late 0.0 0 00:00 1 late 0.0 1.46 43 61 Church Road tunnel 04:06 30/20tsr 21.4 04:00 38 21.9 3.34 45 51 Selly Oak 06:36 50 30.4 06:28 54 45.7 4.40 46 56 Bournville 07:45 53 55.3 07:37 52 55.3 5.44 47 59 Kings Norton 10 09:17 32 40.7 9.5 09:18 38 37.1 6.96 48 16 Northfield 11:12 57 47.6 11:11 57 48.4 8.01 49 20 Longbridge Lane 12:12 69 63.0 12:07 74 67.5 10.56 51 64 Barnt Green 15.5 14:15 78 74.6 15 14:10 75 74.6 12.01 53 20 Blackwell 17 15:53 40 53.3 16.5 15:30 60/81/70 65.3 14.10 55 27 St. Godwalds Road 18:10 60 54.9 17:12 76 73.8 16.26 57 40 Stoke Works 23 21:23 20 40.3 21 20:17 25 42.0 20.29 126 26 Droitwich Spa junction 30.5 29:11 5 31.0 27.5 26:48 10 37.1 25.51 121 08 Rainbow Hill tunnel [2] 35:00 59 53.8 32:39 55 53.5 25.71 120 72 Worcester tunnel junction 38.5 35:21 26 34.3 34 33:03 25 30.0 26.04 120 46 Shrub Hill junction 36:06 26 26.4 34:18 14 15.8 26.11 120 40 Worcester Shrub Hill 40 36:29 11.0 35.5 34:45 9.3 0 43 40:05 r/time 0.0 3.18 117 26 Norton junction 05:18 30 36.0 3.95 68 60 Abbotswood junction 7 07:18 15 23.1 5.85 70 52 Pirton 09:27 65 53.0 8.70 73 40 Defford 11:45 81 74.3 12.50 77 24 Bredon 14:44 75 76.4 14.70 79 40 Ashchurch 16.5 16:31 73 74.0 18.13 82 74 Cleve 19:31 66 68.6 20.24 85 03 Morris Hill 21:31 60 63.3 21.93 86 58 Cheltenham Spa 24 23:51 43.5 0 26 27:29 1 late 0.0 0.27 87 00 Lansdowne junction 1 01:14 30 13.1 2.02 88 60 Badgeworth [2] 03:01 73 58.9 3.10 89 66 Churchdown 03:53 76 74.8 4.27 91 00 MP 05:00 52sigs 62.8 5.53 92 20 Barnwood junction 8.5 06:33 45 48.8 6.14 92 70 Horton Road 10 07:40 20 32.8 6.38 93 09 Gloucester Eastgate 11 08:34 0 16.0 0 13 11:47 r/time 0.0 1.64 94 60 Tuffley junction 3.5 03:27 45 28.5 5.66 98 62 Haresfield 07:55 50tsr 54.0 6.90 100 01 Standish junction 9.5 09:10 66 59.5 8.72 101 67 Bristol Road 11:05 20tsr 57.0 10.30 103 33 Frocester 13:10 55 45.5 13.18 106 24 A38 15:55 69 62.8 14.88 108 00 Berkeley Road 17:16 79 75.6 16.68 109 64 OB 18:36 82 81.0 20.06 113 14 Charfield 20 21:16 74tsr 76.0 21.88 115 00 Wickwar 22:46 70 72.8 25.00 118 09 Tanhouse Lane 25:20 76 73.0 26.68 119 64 Yate 25 27:41 20tsr 42.9 29.12 122 19 Westerleigh junction [4] 30:15 74 57.0

Milepost 35½ -170 - October 2014 31.43 124 44 Mangotsfield north junction 34:00 30 37.0 32.02 125 11 Mangotsfield west junction 35:09 31 30.8 34.85 127 77 Kingswood junction 39:07 46 42.8 36.74 129 68 company boundary 43:09 15 28.1 37.04 118 30 Bristol Temple Meads 45 44:43 0 11.5 * Speeds generally calculated from milepost sightings as near to timing point as possible.

Beyond Gloucester we had to contend with no less than four temporary speed restrictions before Bristol, including two bringing speed down to 20 mph. The first, to 50 mph, was at Haresfield followed shortly after Standish by a 20 mph limit. Perhaps these spurred the driver on as although we had not managed to reach 70 mph before Haresfield, we managed to top 80 mph shortly after Berkeley Road before a 70 mph restriction just beyond Charfield put paid to fast hill climbing. The final 20 mph restriction was at Yate and the overall effect was a 2½ minute deficit. With four minutes recovery time in hand before Bristol and despite the usual low speeds by this old routing we were in Bristol on time.

We now jump forward a couple of years to Run 5 for a further trip to Worcester. Neck and neck to Run 4 out to Kings Norton, this run then began to pull away despite its heavier load. I suspect several of the speed limits had been raised in the intervening two years. Most noticeable on the main line stage was the 60 mph over the top at Blackwell, followed by free fall up to 80 mph before the brakes were applied bringing our speed down to 70 mph before coasting to pass the foot of the bank at 75 mph.

We were also a little faster through Stoke Works but note that the working times have also had two minutes shaved off. Our speed past Droitwich box doubled (to 10 mph) but not much had changed on to Worcester, and still hasn’t to this day. The slight arrears at the start would probably all been cleared but for an unusually slow approach to Shrub Hill.

Run 6 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph avge Day/Date Tue 26th Jan 1971 12.83 54 40 18:57 40 42.9 Train 1055 Plymouth-Manchester 13.08 54 20 19:22 34 36.0 Motive Power class 52 13.33 54 00 19:50 30 32.2 Load (tons) 12/485/495 13.58 53 60 20:21 28 29.0 Weather wet 13.83 53 40 20:53 27 27.7 Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 2/112- S/W 14.08 53 20 Blackwell 25 21:27 26 26.9 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph avge 14.33 53 00 21:56 35 31.1 0.00 120 42 Worcester S Hill 0 00:00 5L 14.58 52 60 22:20 40 37.5 0.05 120 46 Shrub Hill J 00:34 11 5.3 14.83 52 40 22:41 45 42.9 0.38 120 72 Tunnel junction 1.5 01:36 22 19.2 15.08 52 20 23:00 50 47.3 0.58 121 08 Rainbow Hill T 02:06 29 24.0 15.33 52 00 23:17 56 53.0 3.94 124 38 05:39 76 56.8 15.53 51 64 Barnt Green 27.5 23:29 64 60.0 5.60 126 10 Droitwich Spa 07:57 27 43.3 16.33 51 00 24:11 73 68.6 5.80 126 26 Droitwich Spa 8.5 08:26 10 24.8 17.33 50 00 24:58 79 76.5 8.85 129 30 Shaw Lane 13:33 52 35.8 18.33 49 00 25:43 81 80.0 9.83 57 40 Stoke Works J 15 15:17 31 33.9 19.33 48 00 26:30 64 76.6 10.33 57 00 [3] 16:02 44 40.0 20.65 47 59 Kings Norton 32.5 28:06 31 49.5 10.83 56 40 16:41 49 46.2 21.69 46 56 Bournville [3] 29:39 54 40.3 11.33 56 00 17:16 54 51.4 22.75 45 51 Selly Oak 30:49 55 54.5 11.94 55 31 Bromsgrove 17:54 61 57.8 24.69 43 56 Church Road T 41 33:22 39 45.6 12.33 55 00 18:18 53 58.5 25.41 42 78 Bath Row T 34:33 29 36.5 12.58 54 60 18:36 47 50.0 26.09 42 24 Birmingham New St 45 37:02 0 16.4

Run 6 was a working known from time to time to be allocated to a Western Class 52 loco. The 26 January 1971 was one of those days. Rain had set in by the time my journey back to Birmingham commenced though I did not notice any particular difference from ‘dry’ runs. We made a quite spirited run to Droitwich despite the train being one coach over its usual load

Milepost 35½ -171 - October 2014 and passed the junction box within the time allowed. The run on to Stoke Works was of less note but once on the main line the engine was given full power for the next nine miles. Speed quickly rose on the moderately rising gradient to 61 mph through Bromsgrove where we hit the 1 in 37¾ of the Lickey bank itself. The schedule in this direction allows 9½ minutes longer than that southbound; we now saw why.

Speed fell by a fairly consistent 6 mph per quarter mile until into the lower thirties when the rate of deceleration slowed very noticeably such that by the high twenties we were only dropping 1 mph per quarter mile. However, the top of the bank was reached before speed settled and we passed Blackwell at 26 mph.

Now on a 1 in 291 climb speed rapidly rose, by 9 mph over the next quarter mile and then by 5 mph over each following quarter mile to the summit just south of Barnt Green. On the falling grades speed continued to rise until power was shut off at 80 mph near Northfield. We passed Kings Norton with almost all the late start recovered and three minutes of recovery time in hand. Speed soon rose to 55 mph and we continued with an unchecked run into New Street arriving three minutes before due – something unlikely to happen today.

Comparing the logs it is noticeable that in 1969 none of my trains over the route left New Street on time, the first two runs both had two stops at signals and all were checked by signals and three runs suffered from a total of eight temporary speed restrictions, Despite all this, no train was later arriving at Bristol than it was departing New Street. Today some sections of the route carry much more traffic yet trains are scheduled more than twenty minutes quicker and rarely suffer signal checks before Filton Abbey Wood. There are still some temporary speed restrictions, but fewer. From my experiences though, I think it is now more difficult to arrive on time at Bristol than it is to depart Birmingham on time!

Class 20s faites leur Tour de Yorkshire et Lancashire

Ian Umpleby

The Tour de France came to Yorkshire for the first time on the weekend of the 5/6 July 2014. With no precedent to fall upon, the Train Operating Companies had to marshal their resources effectively to meet the anticipated demand which, due to the favourable weather, was possibly more than could ever have been predicted. Two loco-hauled sets were called upon to supplement Sunday services on the Calder Valley Line where the main cycling ‘hot- spot’ was Hebden Bridge. One set utilising Nos. 67006/67027 topped and tailed five ‘Pretendolino’ coaches and a DB DVT; this provided a Leeds – Hebden Bridge morning outward and early afternoon return. The other set was eight Mk 2F air-conditioned coaches topped and tailed by Nos. 47810 and 57308, the latter being transferred after its Saturday Leeds - Harrogate workings to Bradford Interchange just after midnight. This set was scheduled to do four return trips from Bradford to Blackburn throughout Sunday.

After a disappointing Saturday return trip to Harrogate I almost decided not to go out on the Sunday but relented, hedging my bets by just getting a Leeds - Bradford day return in case things went wrong; No. 333014 EMU was in charge of the 14.41 to Bradford Forster Square which got me there for 15.00, 40 minutes before departure from Interchange, leaving time for a visit to a Costa Cafe.

Realtime Trains revealed that the circuit had started dead on time at 10.21 from Bradford, but arrival at Blackburn was six minutes late at 11.43 causing the 11.43 return to leave at 11.50. Further delays meant a 13.06 arrival at Bradford (due 12.53) and the 13.05 return did

Milepost 35½ -172 - October 2014 Date/day Sunday 6th July 2014 Train See text Motive Power 20308/309 Load (tons) 8 Mk2F AC/plus 57308/389/395 Cl 57 providing ‘hotel power’ Position 3/10 Recorder I Umpleby Weather Sunny GPS: Y/N? Y Miles M C location Sch m s mph average 0.00 40 20 BRADFORD INTERCHANGE 0 0 00.0 2L 0.26 39 79 Mill Lane box 1½ 1 41.0 10 9.3 191 78 9 0.71 191 42 Wakefield Road Tunnel WP 4 27.5 11 9.7 0.99 191 20 Hammerton Street ub 5 52.0 12 11.7 1.24 191 00 MP 7 11.0 9 11.4 1.59 190 52 Planetrees OB (top of 1/49) 9 24.0 10 9.5 1.74 190 40 Laisterdyke OB 10 12.5 13 11.2 1.91 190 26 Laisterdyke East Jn OB 10 56.0 19 14.5 6 51 2.70 5 68 Ducketts LC 12 32.0 40 29.5 3.01 5 43 Stanningley Tunnel WP 13 08.5 24 31.1 3.58 4 78 New Pudsey fb 14 37.5 11* 22.6 5.40 3 12 Bramley UB 17 24.5 57/59 39.4 7.53 1 02 Wortley Tunnel EP 20 02.5 28 48.4 sigs14/23 8.54 0 01 Holbeck Junction 13 ½ 23 09.0 17 19.5 185 01 Signal Stop 23 43.0 25 07.0 8.84 185 25 Whitehall Junction UB 16 25 58.0 20 6.4 195 56 9.26 195 22 Engine Shed Jn RR 18 27 16.0 20 19.6 10.31 194 18 Hunslet OB 29 19.5 42 30.6 11.93 192 49 Stourton Junction 22 31 28.0 54 45.2 14.54 190 00 Woodlesford fb 34 07.0 61/55 59.2 17.09 187 36 Methley Junction RR 27 ½ 36 47.0 58 57.4 18.55 185 79 Altofts Junction RR 29 38 22.5 54 55.2 19.33 185 17 Normanton fb 39 49.5 21 32.0 184 54 50 30 20.60 49 51 Path Crossing 42 19.5 46/50 30.6 21.86 48 30 Turners Lane Jn UB 35 43 65.5 37 43.0 15sigs 22.49 47 60 Wakefield Kirkgate sub 49$ 45 34.0 21 25.3 24/X FL 23.44 46 64 UB 230 47 37.0 40 27.8 24.76 45 38 Horbury Junction box 52 ½ 49 21.0 53/55 46.0 26.35 43 71 Horbury & Ossett OB 51 25.0 26 46.1 26.66 43 46 OB 218 52 22.5 15 19.5 26.90 43 27 Signal Stop 53 33.0 12.1 26.90 (HM 181/2) 114 08.0 28.71 41 42 Dewsbury East Jn 118 07.5 35 27.2 30.30 39 75 Thornhill LNWJn OB 120 21.5 49 42.6 30.96 39 22 Mirfield East Jn OB 61 121 09.0 53 50.4 31.83 38 33 Mirfield shl 122 12.0 38 49.2 Signal Stop 128 07.0 128 53.0

Milepost 35½ -173 - October 2014 Miles M C location Sch m s mph average 32.99 37 20 Heaton Lodge Jn UB 63½ 130 27.5 32 8.4 34.53 35 57 Bradley Wood Jn pts 65 132 38.0 47 42.3 35.85 34 31 BRIGHOUSE 135 17.0 30.0 0.00 34 31 0 00.0 0.39 34 00 MP 1 27.0 31 16.0 1.39 33 00 MP 3 06.0 42 36.3 3.44 30 76 Greetland Junction 69 ½ 5 37.0 53 49.0 4.39 30 00 MP 6 54.0 23-Nov 44.2 5.11 29 22 Milner Royd Junction box 71 ½ 9 09.0 30 19.3 5.76 28 50 Sowerby Bridge sub 10 15.0 40/46/6*sigs 35.6 7.86 26 42 Luddendenfoot OB 14 52.0 26 27.3 9.46 24 74 Mytholmroyd shl 17 26.0 45/46 37.3 10.78 23 49 HEBDEN BRIDGE 77 20 33.0 25.3 0.00 23 49 0 0 00.0 T 31.5 0.40 23 17 Weasel Hill Tunnel EP 1 30.0 27 16.0 1.11 22 40 MP 2 50.0 34 32.1 2.23 21 31 Eastwood PC 4 30.0 43 39.9 3.44 20 14 Castle Hill Tunnel EP 6 30.5 20sigs/27 36.3 3.86 19 60 Hall Royd Junction MP 5 7 31.5 26 25.1 30 53 4.25 30 22 Stansfield Hall fb 5½ 8 22.0 29/31 27.4 5.10 29 34 OB 10 02.5 28 30.5 5.41 29 09 Kitson Wood Tunnel EP 10 44.0 25 27.2 6.53 28 00 MP 13 30.5 24 24.1 7.03 27 40 MP 14 44.5 25 24.3 7.15 27 30 Portsmouth LC 15 02.0 27/25 25.6 7.53 27 00 MP 15 53.0 27 26.4 8.28 26 20 Copy Pit Summit 12 17 32.0 27/35 27.2 8.73 25 64 Holme Tunnel EP 18 20.0 28/23 34.1 9.53 25 00 MP 19 44.5 45/33/39 34.0 10.53 24 00 MP 21 20.0 29/20 37.7 11.96 22 45 Towneley LC 23 54.5 42 33.5 12.70 21 66 BURNLEY MANCHESTER RD 19 25 45.0 24.0 0.00 21 66 0 0 00.0 0.79 21 03 Gannow Junction UB 1 1 59.0 39/37 23.8 1.43 20 32 Rose Grove shl 2 59.0 40 38.3 2.89 18 75 Hapton shl 4 47.5 52 48.6 4.34 17 39 Huncoat shl 6 27.5 54 52.0 5.73 16 08 Accrington Viaduct East 8 29.5 18/10 41.0 6.01 15 65 ACCRINGTON 10 10 24.0 9.0 0.00 15 65 0 0 00.0 0.86 14 76 Church shl 2 22.0 45/54 21.9 2.46 13 28 Rishton fb 4 11.5 51/53 52.4 3.56 12 20 MP 5 28.5 51 51.5 4.69 11 10 Daisyfield Junction 5 7 50.0 8/X DOWN 28.6 4.88 10 75 Blackburn Tunnel EP 8 45.5 13 12.2 5.28 10 43 BLACKBURN 8 10 46.0 8L 11.9 not get going until 13.14 and dropped three minutes on the schedule, with Blackburn reached at 14.29. The leading locomotive, No. 47810, failed and was taken off the train here and No. 57308 took the train single-handed back to Bradford leaving at 14.42 (14 minutes late). There was an 11 minute stop at Hebden Bridge while passengers boarded; the scheduled 15.33 arrival was clearly not going to be achieved. Upon my arrival at Interchange, the 15.40 to Blackburn was shown on time so I purchased a return ticket and soaked in the summer sunshine. The 16.00 Grand Central Kings Cross service was in our allocated Platform 1 which rang alarm bells but the appearance of the packed Pretendolino

Milepost 35½ -174 - October 2014 set en-route to Leeds provided a distraction. There were probably no ‘normals’ in the small crowd present when the train from Blackburn finally arrived at 16.10 and most were probably surprised to see only No. 57308 on the train. It seemed obvious that the Class 57 would run round and return single-handed, a 25 minute turn-around at Blackburn allowing, maybe, some time recovery later. However, a rush to the front of the train followed by the distinctive noise of approaching Class 20s brought a new dimension to the day; Noel Proudlock and I had spotted them idling away in Leeds’ Platform 7 at 16.30 the previous day and I volunteered that they were probably back-up engines, although I never believed it would happen.

Once all the commotion had died down an announcement was made that the train would now be sent at 16.40to Sheffield, where the Tour stage was ending, to form Sheffield to Doncaster shuttles as the pressure at Hebden Bridge had eased. With only Blackburn tickets in my possession I made an involuntary move to get off the train but soon pulled myself together; in the event my ticket remained uninspected from purchase to journey’s end. All that remained was to see which route was to be taken, with the likely options being Brighouse/Wakefield Kirkgate/Dearne Valley or Bramley/Woodlesford/Calder Bridge/Dearne Valley. The anticipated arrival was at 18.00 on what turned out to be a short term planning express train schedule, but not specifically Empty Coaching Stock, which might have been expected. The ultimate destination was probably irrelevant to the ‘passengers’ although it was for some later.

The start out of the old Bradford Exchange was bad enough, but at least there was a brief level section from there before the 1 in 50 ascent started. However, the start from Interchange meant the 1 in 50 started virtually at the buffer stops, a scenario that would not be tolerated today although the actual grades may be easier than the official ones. The 1 in 50 climb was continuous until just short of Bowling Tunnel on the Halifax route, but there was a straight run once Mill Lane Signal Box was passed. Remodelling a few years ago had removed some of the more restrictive speed limits which allows power to be applied continuously on the climb in most cases. However it turned out that the Bramley route had been selected, a worse option if that was possible. From Mill Lane Junction the line sweeps left through a series of reverse curves, including a short tunnel, at 1 in 59 to Hammerton Street where it increases to 1 in 44 to MP 191, ‘easing’ to 1 in 49 as far as 190¾ with a final half mile at 1 in 105 to MP 6½ from Leeds; fortunately the rails were dry. The Class 57 on the rear was dead weight, as propelling is not permitted on this part of the London and North Eastern territory, but it provided the ‘hotel power’. There was a suggestion that the Class 20s were not working in multiple, but they were working very hard from the start as they ‘whistled’ away from the platform. Speed stabilised at about 10 mph initially, increasing to 12 mph after Mill Lane, but being reined back to 9-10 mph once the 1 in 44 was met. Laisterdyke OB was passed in 10m 12s at 13 mph; later that night three-car DMU No. 158756 went past it in 4m 01s at 42 mph. The 30 mph PSR through Stanningley Tunnel held back acceleration and there was an unexplained check through New Pudsey before the 60 mph line limit was almost reached at Bramley. Almost inevitably, even on a Sunday, we were stopped at Whitehall Junction before taking the direct curve towards Woodlesford and achieving the highest speed of the day – 61 mph. A few miles further on, to the consternation of those on board, we failed to slow down for Turners Lane curve and proceeded towards Horbury Junction where there was some speculation that we could go via Barnsley. This was soon scotched as we carried on towards Mirfield, only to come to a stop on the Up L & Y just before Healey Mills B Junction. The on train DRS(?) staff were doing their best to keep the passengers informed with developments, although one announcement, made in the spirit of the ‘tour’ was definitely not politically correct! More phone calls elucidated the response that the train was now needed more at Hebden Bridge where a crowd of 1,500 was watching the Wimbledon Men’s Tennis Final on the Tour de France big screen. Network Rail produced the 17.35 Wakefield to Hebden Bridge non-stop

Milepost 35½ -175 - October 2014 schedule shown in the log. The 18.57 Bradford to Blackburn times are shown from Hebden Bridge.

It was just before 17.40 when it was announced that we would depart at 19.00 and take up the path of the 18.57 Bradford – Blackburn from Hebden Bridge. No tumble weed was moving across the desolation of Healey Mills Yard, but a few passengers soon became aware of the implications of the announcement i.e. there was no way of getting back to London by train that night. After some negotiating, the option of stopping at Mirfield was discounted in favour of one at Brighouse for London passengers and we moved off early at 18.37. Eventually, Hebden Bridge was reached but only a handful of passengers boarded. Now all that remained was to bag some Class 20 Fastest Times (maybe!) as we climbed gently up the Calder Valley; getting off at Hebden Bridge was not an option as the climb of Copy Pit was still to come. From Stansfield Hall the line climbs at a steady 1 in 65 to Portsmouth LC, easing slightly over the final mile. Speed stabilised at about the 25 mph mark before an erratic descent and reasonable final stretch to Blackburn reached eight or 207 minutes late, depending on how you look at it.

No. 57308 took the train back to Bradford with sectional times of 8m 51 to Accrington; 10 minutes to Burnley; 23m 25s to Hebden Bridge and checked runs to Halifax in 17m 44s and Bradford 13m 45s. Arrival was 15 minutes late at 21.48. The Class 20s blasted their way up to Bowling Tunnel and Crewe. The 22.04 to Leeds ran punctually and the 22.30 bus got me home at 22.50, a bit later than anticipated at the end of a strange day.

Postscript: when completing this article it was obvious that the climb of Copy Pit produced far more horse power than that on Laisterdyke bank, indeed about twice as much. A check of another log showed the former to be representative indicating that there may have been a problem with the multiple working on leaving Bradford as alluded to above, which was later fixed. However, others may be able to correct me on this.

The Bournemouth Line electrification June 1965 to July 1967

A personal view

Part 4 – Autumn/Early Winter 1966

Martin Barrett

Come October 1966, the clocks go back and the days shorten so in this period sunrise is as late as 08.00 and it progressively gets darker in the evenings from 18.00 in October to 16.00 by the end of the year – not ideal recording conditions.

On Friday 28 October I joined 08.35 from Waterloo with the reliable West Country Class Pacific (WC) No. 34036 at the front on 10 vehicles (Table 1A and 1B, Run 1). From then until the end of November there was work at some point between Woking and Basingstoke requiring local line running and also between Sway and New Milton with single line working – not the best scenario for good running. Back to Run 1 and 34036 ran cautiously to Surbiton, but on leaving there ran up to 74 mph before the TSR at West Byfleet cut things short. Local line running all the way from Woking to Basingstoke wasn’t very exciting and the run to Winchester was cut short by signals after reaching 75 mph by Weston. Similarly, signals intervened all the way to Southampton where the two minutes late start had increased to 7½ minutes on departure, of which only 2½ were recovered by Brockenhurst. After doubling back to Southampton I joined the 10.30 from Waterloo, which had just as bad a run, leaving 13½ minutes late with another West Country, No. 34008, on 10 vehicles (Run 2). Despite

Milepost 35½ -176 - October 2014

Run No 1 3 4 Date 28 October 1966 29 October 1966 20 November 1966 Train 0835 Waterloo 1030 Waterloo 1130 Waterloo Loco 34036 34088 34015 Load 8+2BG/328/344 tons 11/368/392 to B'mth 7+BG/263/276 4/134/142 ex B'mth m ch location sch m s mph m s mph sch m s mph 0 11 Waterloo 0 0 00 2 late 0 00 1 late 0 0 00 T 1 29 Vauxhall 3 22 36/54 4 23 29/46 3 26 30/41 4 00 Clapham Jn 7 7 00 40 8 20 42 7 7 56 39 5 47 Earlsfield 8 59 51/54 10 29 49 9 55 50 7 25 Wimbledon 10 56 52/49 12 32 54 11 53 57 8 60 Raynes Park 12 43 53/s20 14 09 58 13 27 59/sigs 9 60 New Malden 14 40 28 15 12 59 14 35 50 11 00 Berrylands 16 35 48 16 26 61 16 02 53 12 00 Surbiton 18 18 30 17 26 62 17 07 59 19 19 45 13 27 Hampton Ct Jn 3 2 52 46 18 42 64 18 18 24 66 14 28 Esher 4 10 54 19 40 64 19 22 66 16 00 Hersham 5 40 64 21 06 67 20 47 67 17 08 Walton 6 33 67 22 00 66/62 21 42 65 19 09 Weybridge 8 28 71/74 23 58 65/71 23 47 69 20 34 Byfleet 9 35 72/tsr 25 05 62/tsr 24 48 69 21 60 West Byfleet 11 26 27 05 34/38 25 56 68/69 24 25 Woking 18½ 16 47 31 56 18sigs 28 37 20 19 50 24 60 Woking Jn LL 33 33 21 XLL 34 29 48 25 XLL/46 28 00 Brookwood 7 02 54 39 35 43/45 35 13 24 XTL 31 00 MP31 10 08 61/63 43 41 43 40 12 46 33 20 Farnborough 12 21 58 46 25 52/55/18s 42 38 61 36 40 Fleet 15 24 68 53 13 20 45 43 67/68 39 60 Winchfield 18 27 60 58 51 42/48 48 39 64/65 42 20 Hook 21 32 /tsr27/61 62 14 39/32tsr/50 50 59 61/68/s46 29 01 sig 31 12 stop XTL 47 60 Basingstoke 31 33 42 69 50 48 61 57 26 33 36 20 63 70 05 50 20 Worting Jn 5½ 5 07 43 73 13 43 5½ 5 34 44 52 40 Wootton 7 47 53 76 27 40 8 28 47 56 00 Roundwood 11 08 66 80 49 52 12 14 58 58 00 Micheldever 12 52 73 82 53 62 14 08 69 60 15 Weston 14 40 75/s55 84 51 69/s13 15 56 72/77 62 00 Wallers Ash 16 28 57/61/s47 88 59 26 17 26 75/77 64 23 Winchester Jn 21½ 19 07 50/53/30s 92 11 60 22½ 19 21 52/41s/51 66 40 Winchester 25 22 58 94 15 66 25½ 22 22 27 24 40 27½ 23 35 69 49 Shawford 4 37 67/71 96 57 73/36s 4 38 64/71/ss1m58s 73 33 Eastleigh 10 9 07 36s/44 101 00 42 9½ 13 10 21/34 74 60 Southampton Apt 14½ 11 26 102 37 52/53 13½ 15 53 15½ 13 20 14½ 16 30 75 56 Swaythling 2 03 45/54/s 103 47 48/sigs 2 16 35 77 09 St Denys 3 37 /15sigs 105 35 43 4 00 51 78 19 Northam Jn 5 6 38 /ss20s 107 15 5½ 5 35 */27 79 18 Southampton 8½ 12 13 111 02 8½ 8 20 fairly poor running, and single line working (SLW) we only lost one more minute with a

Milepost 35½ -177 - October 2014 maximum of 66 mph after Beaulieu Road. A very smart uncoupling of the first three vehicles at Bournemouth picked up a few minutes, but sprightly running didn’t pick up any more time on fairly tight schedules.

The following day I started later, catching the 10.30 from Waterloo (Run 3) with Battle of Britain Class Pacific (BB) No. 34088 on 11 vehicles. Whereas we just kept time to Woking, once on the local line both signal and permanent way slacks contrived to ensure we took 40 minutes for the 23 miles to Worting Junction. From there things got worse with more signal checks and only a brief 73 mph at Shawford to enliven the proceedings. The run on to Bournemouth was worse than the day before with another 4½ minutes lost – 23 minutes late arriving. Fortunately, with a lighter load and a clear run some lively running followed with 71 mph being reached after Holton Heath.

I then had a break from the Southern with a couple of specials in Scotland, Class V2 2-6-2 No. 60836 from Edinburgh to Aberdeen and back, followed by A4 No. 60019 from Leeds to Edinburgh via the Waverley route and back via the ECML. So it was not until Sunday 20 November I ventured back to the South Western on the 11.30 from Waterloo (Run 4). Nine Elms turned out unrebuilt West Country No. 34015 for this and with a light load of only eight vehicles we had a lively run to Basingstoke reached in 57½ minutes. Speeds were in the upper 60s and included LL running from Woking to Brookwood. Despite an unexplained delay at Basingstoke we still chopped three minutes off the rather long schedule to Winchester despite being checked from Winchester Junction after reaching 77 mph after Wallers Ash. Delayed before Eastleigh, the ‘highlight’ of the run was to beat the 8½ minute schedule from Southampton Airport to Central!

The following Saturday it was back to the 08.35 with WC No. 34040 on a massive 14 vehicles, of which two were 75 mph PMVs (Run 5). Despite the load the engine handled the train competently keeping time on all sections except Southampton Airport to Central – maybe a nine minutes late start helped, though running could have been better as only four minutes had been regained by Winchester. A long delay here didn’t help; neither did the 12 minute stop at Southampton to detach, but we were still only 12 minutes late at Brockenhurst!

I doubled back to Winchester for the 11.30 from Waterloo (94½ minutes from Waterloo with only one stop!), and found No. 34008 on 11 vehicles actually leaving early (Run 6, Table 1B). Nothing of consequence here – we just tootled along with no real effort needed.

Another week off for another Scottish excursion – Class B1 4-6-0 No. 61278 over the Bathgate line, then the Waverley route, so it wasn’t until Saturday 10 December I was back on the 08.35 from Waterloo with WC No. 34036 again (Run 7). By this time the engineering work appeared to be winding down for Christmas with no temporary restrictions between Waterloo and Brockenhurst, but two between there and Bournemouth. This was one of the better runs with running up to 70 mph but no excesses and time gained in handfuls – note the five minutes dwell time at Woking, 4½ at Basingstoke and 3½ at Winchester. A pity everything fell apart after Southampton! Coming up to Christmas I had a last trip on the 11.30 from Waterloo on 18 December. WC No. 34036 was at the head on only eight vehicles. I’m glad I made the effort, Clapham Junction in less than seven minutes, Hampton Court Junction in just over 16 minutes at 77 mph and after easing to 55 mph at Byfleet, opening up again to clear the summit at MP31 at 63mph. Even time was reached by MP44 and only the stop outside prevented Basingstoke also being reached in even time. A stop before Micheldever ruined the rest of the run, but it was obvious things were being taken much easier.

Milepost 35½ -178 - October 2014 Table 1A Run No 5 7 8 Date 26 Nov 1966 10 Dec 1966 18 Dec 1966 Train 0835 Waterloo 0835 Waterloo 1130 Waterloo Loco 34040 34036 34093 Load 11+BG+2PMV/430/475 7+2BG/295/314 7+BG/262/275 to S'ton m ch location m s mph m s mph m s mph 0 11 Waterloo 0 00 9 late 0 00 3 late 0 00 T 1 29 Vauxhall 4 30 26/47 3 22 32/46 3 02 32/48 4 00 Clapham Jn 8 46 44 7 18 37 6 50 41 5 47 Earlsfield 10 43 53 9 32 52 8 53 53 7 25 Wimbledon 12 37 57 11 28 56 10 49 58 8 60 Raynes Park 14 11 60 12 59 61 12 18 64 9 60 New Malden 15 09 63 14 00 59 13 13 66 11 00 Berrylands 16 22 61 15 19 55 14 17 70 12 00 Surbiton 18 17 17 09 15 07 72 19 15 17 45 13 27 Hampton Ct Jn 3 38 41 2 51 47 16 12 77 14 28 Esher 5 00 47 4 12 54 17 06 75 16 00 Hersham 6 50 57 5 39 65 18 17 76 17 08 Walton 7 55 57 6 35 65/63 19 05 74 19 09 Weybridge 10 17 59 8 43 66 21 00 67 20 34 Byfleet 11 25 63 9 48 64 22 14 55 21 60 West Byfleet 12 41 61 11 06 59 23 38 58/63 24 25 Woking 16 27 14 22 26 07 61 17 20 19 30 24 60 Woking Jn 1 57 21 XLL 1 40 26/37/tsr32 26 35 62 28 00 Brookwood 7 28 47 7 28 34 29 40 65 31 00 MP31 11 20 47 11 31 54 32 33 63 33 20 Farnborough 13 52 58 13 46 64 34 37 68 36 40 Fleet 17 03 63/65 16 43 69/70 37 24 72 39 60 Winchfield 20 07 61 19 36 64 40 12 68 42 20 Hook 22 36 61/63 21 57 66/68 42 25 69/ss 3m5s sigs 37/x tl 47 60 Basingst oke 30 18 28 19 56 18 32 35 /s29/27 32 50 62 35 50 20 Worting Jn 6 18 33 4 49 45 5 37 41 52 40 Wootton 9 37 45 7 30 56/60 8 30 50 56 00 Roundwood 13 24 59 11 06 57 12 08 61/ss 2m 58 00 Micheldever 15 16 69 13 02 68 19 23 31 60 15 Weston 17 05 74 15 01 67 22 14 64 62 00 Wallers Ash 18 37 72 16 42 65 23 57 70 64 23 Winchester Jn 20 38 68 18 51 66 25 53 75 66 40 Winchester 23 42 21 23 28 22 30 15 25 00 29 55 69 49 Shawford 4 35 63/66/29s/33 4 53 61/70 4 35 69/74 73 33 Eastleigh 9 34 25/35 8 23 65 7 51 72 74 60 Southampton Apt 12 38 10 08 9 56 13 40 12 00 10 20 75 56 Swaythling 2 22 41/48 2 18 38 2 21 33 77 09 St Denys 3 55 57 4 10 51 78 19 Northam Jn 6 22 sigs 5 28 /ss 45s 5 36 -/26 79 18 Southampton 9 42 11 22 8 47

Milepost 35½ -179 - October 2014 Table 1A Run No 9 10 11 Date 28 December 1966 31 December 66 31 December 66 Train 1030 Waterloo 0835 Waterloo 1230 Waterloo Loco 34087 34002 34093 Load 12/404/430 to Bmth 10+BG/365/390 9Pull+2BG/410/435 6/200/213 ex Bmth m ch location sch m s mph m s mph sch m s mph 0 11 Waterloo 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 00 1 29 Vauxhall 4 02 28/49 3 23 27 3 53 35/49 4 00 Clapham Jn 7 8 08 41/39 7 57 41 7 7 40 43 5 47 Earlsfield 10 19 45 10 07 45 9 41 49 7 25 Wimbledon 12 28 52 12 18 50 11 46 52 8 60 Raynes Park 14 08 56 14 02 54 13 23 55 9 60 New Malden 15 11 57/60 15 08 57 14 27 57 11 00 Berrylands 16 27 59 16 33 49 15 42 60 12 00 Surbiton 17 27 62 18 48 16 42 62 0 00 LL 13 27 Hampton Ct Jn 18 18 42 65 3 27 40 18 17 57 66 14 28 Esher 19 43 67 5 03 45 18 59 67/69 16 00 Hersham 21 03 67 6 52 50 20 19 68 17 08 Walton 21 56 66 8 02 50/51 21 13 67 19 09 Weybridge 24 02 69 10 41 44 23 18 64/66 20 34 Byfleet 25 09 58 12 44 28sigs 24 27 64 (loud crash) 21 60 West Byfleet 26 33 57 15 28 32/38/XTL 25 38 64 24 25 Woking 29 28 47sigs 20 26 28 03 60 0 00 24 60 Woking Jn 34 30 03 49 1 53 34 28 32 60 28 00 Brookwood 33 52 54/52 7 33 46 31 47 59/61 31 00 MP31 37 18 53 11 22 48 34 48 60 33 20 Farnborough 39 37 61 13 57 55 36 56 65 36 40 Fleet 42 38 66/68 17 31 53/55 39 56 65 39 60 Winchfield 45 32 64 21 07 51 42 48 67 42 20 Hook 47 51 65/67/34s 23 57 55/56 45 02 65/68 47 60 Basingstoke 54 05 39 30 48 50 12 57 50 20 Worting Jn 60 57 48 43 60 53 00 50 52 40 Wootton 60 49 49/55 55 49 47/51 56 00 Roundwood 64 44 54/25s 60 06 47 58 00 Micheldever 68 38 30 62 27 51 60 15 Weston 71 28 59 65 00 55 62 00 Wallers Ash 73 12 68/71 66 46 65 64 23 Winchester Jn 76 75 13 65/33s 75½ 68 39 77 66 40 Winchester 78 20 39 70 15 84/88 sigs 23 69 49 Shawford 84 20 42 72 27 85 73 33 Eastleigh 84½ 88 23 68 83½ 75 15 82 74 60 Southampton Apt 89 30 69 76 15 79 75 56 Swaythling 90 24 64/18sig 77 09 41s/44 77 09 St Denys 93 27 79 07 /sig15 78 19 Northam Jn 90 95 27 89½ 82 00 /ss 2m28s 79 18 Southampton 93 99 35 92½ 89 00

Milepost 35½ -180 - October 2014 Table 1B Run No 1 2 3 Date 28 October 1966 28 October 1966 29 October 1966 Train 0835 Waterloo 1208 Shmptn (1030 Wloo) 1030 Waterloo Loco 34036 34008 34088 Load 8+2BG/328/344 tons 10/336/353 to B'mth 11/368/392 to B'mth 3/101/106 ex B'mth 4/134/142 ex B'mth m ch location sch m s mph sch m s mph m s mph 79 18 Southampton 12½ 18 20 98(0) 0 00 13½ late 116 00 81 74 Redbridge 5 4 40 48/45 4 53 52 5 55 45 82 40 Totton 5 32 48 5 38 54/55 6 46 50 85 32 Lyndhurst Road 9 03 53/64 8 58 54/62 10 16 55/61 88 00 Beaulieu Road 11 29 63/69 11 28 58/66 12 51 57/66 92 65 Brockenhurst 19 16 34 16 10 53 17 22 58 93 60 Lymington Jn 17 17 19 48 18 26 52 95 45 Sway 20 14 21 XUL/48 21 02 21 XUL/45 98 45 New Milton 25 25 19 XDL 26 33 15 XDL 101 00 Hinton Admiral 29 24 60/64/58 31 13 56/67 104 28 Christchurch 32 38 60/62 34 17 63/64 106 23 Pokesdown 34 43 50 36 55 21sigs 106 60 Boscombe 35 22 41 38 18 26 108 01 Bournemouth 37 38 10 41 38 43 41 25 /45 45 55 /48 110 53 Branksome 4 53 35* 4 55 37* 112 00 Parkstone 6 41 54/59 6 41 57/62 113 62 Poole 10 9 17 9 02 11½ 11 35 /47 10 55 /49 116 00 Hamworthy Jn 4 03 37* 4 01 39* 118 60 Holton Heath 7 00 66 6 52 70/71 120 70 Wareham 10 9 28 9 05 .

Table 1B Run No 4 5 6 Date 20 November 1966 26 Nov 1966 26 Nov 1966 Train 1130 Waterloo 0835 Waterloo 1306½ Winchester Loco 34015 34040 34008 Load 7/231/243 9+BG/331/360 11/370/390 m ch location sch m s mph m s mph sch m s mph 79 18 Southampton 12½ 15 25 21 45 13 16 55 81 74 Redbridge 5 5 25 49 4 20 54 5 4 58 44 82 40 Totton 6 12 52 5 04 56 5 51 48 85 32 Lyndhurst Road 9 33 59/63 8 11 62/68 9 26 55/61 88 00 Beaulieu Road 12 03 61/69 10 29 66/74 11 59 56/60 92 65 Brockenhurst 20½ 17 02 15 40 19½ 18 02 21½ 19 45 93 60 Lymington Jn 2½ 2 47 29 95 45 Sway 5 44 41/55 98 45 New Milton 10 9 42

Milepost 35½ -181 - October 2014 Table 1B Run No 7 8 9 11 Date 10 Dec 1966 18 Dec 1966 28 December 1966 31 December 66 Train 0835 Waterloo 1130 Waterloo 1030 Waterloo 1230 Waterloo Loco 34036 34093 34087 34093 Load 7+2BG/295/314 7/230/242 12/404/430 to Bmth 9Pull+2BG/410/435 6/200/213 ex Bmth m ch location m s mph m s mph sch m s mph sch m s mph 79 18 Southampton 17 45 /38/sigs 15 45 0 00 /34/sigs 21 0 00 81 74 Redbridge 5 48 31 4 48 47 7 08 32 5 05 53 82 40 Totton 8 03 sig 5 38 48 8 20 38 5 49 56 15 40 stop'/19 /ss 2m57s 85 32 Lyndhurst Rd 30 5 3 15 9 21 52 12 28 50/57 9 00 59/65 88 00 Beaulieu Rd 34 53 46/61 12 02 59/68 15 10 55/70 11 24 64/71 92 65 Brockenhurst 40 34 17 18 19 33 59 15 32 65 93 60 Lymington Jn 17 20 36 56/tsr 17 16 29 61/tsr 95 45 Sway 22 39 41/55 19 22 22/50/s21 98 45 New Milton 26 20 53 24 43 24/47

101 00 Hint Admiral 28 48 70 29 35 30 15 /ss58s/46 104 28 Chr istchurch 31 47 47/17tsr/12slip 37 58 21/tsr 106 23 Pokesdown 40 03 20 42 50 27 106 60 Boscombe 42 05 25/32 43 52 30/ss1m7s 108 01 Bournemouth 37 44 45 37½ 51 20 43 0 00 /43 110 53 Branksome 5 55 36 112 00 Parkstone 7 45 54 113 62 Poole 10 10 23 11½ 0 00 -/44 116 00 Hamworthy J 4 26 35/57 118 60 Holton Heath 7 40 55 120 70 Wareham 10 10 25 .

After Christmas I had two days out before the New Year. On Wednesday 28 December I had a trip on the 10.30 from Waterloo (Run 9) with BB No. 34087 on 12 vehicles (six from Bournemouth). After an average start there was a loud crash in the Byfleet area and speed dropped from 69 mph at Weybridge to 47 mph at Woking. What happened? Maybe a fire iron going over the side or something similar, but speed recovered after Woking and we went merrily along in the mid 60s until signal checks delayed us approaching Basingstoke and again before Micheldever and Winchester. This train seemed to have a terrible path as 6½ minutes were dropped to Southampton. The run forward to Bournemouth wasn’t much fun with a signal check and two permanent way slowings. After Christchurch we even slipped trying to accelerate away from the restriction! Even after six vehicles had been dropped, running was no better on to Wareham. New Year’s Eve and the last scheduled steam hauled Bournemouth Belle, but to fill in time beforehand, I had a round trip to Basingstoke leaving on the 08.35 (again). We had unrebuilt WC No. 34002 in charge with 10 vehicles (Run 10). To say the run was poor was an understatement as 57 mph at New Malden was the best for the journey and running local line all the way from Surbiton to Woking did not bode well for the Belle. However, the Belle had WC No. 34093 on nine Pullmans and two BGs, a nice load of 435 tons gross – and Driver Porter was in charge. The run was very balanced and speed was in the high 60s before Byfleet, falling to around 60 mph at MP31 and rising to the mid 60s until Basingstoke, so with an unchecked run, we were through Worting Junction in only 53 minutes. I wondered if the engine wasn’t steaming too well as we had a breather to Roundwood with speed falling to 47 mph on the climb.

Milepost 35½ -182 - October 2014 However you don’t need much steam to run downhill and from 51 mph at Micheldever speed rose into the 80s with a maximum of 88 mph after Winchester. Being now over eight minutes early we were stopped and eventually took 89 minutes dead into Southampton, but less than 84 could have been achieved given a clear run. And that, as they say, was that. A TSR and two signal checks ensured we took over 50 minutes on to Bournemouth!

Having dealt with the Down runs we now come to the Up journeys. In Run 12 (Table 2A) we have a snippet from Brockenhurst to Southampton after I had come down on the 08.35 from Waterloo and was going back for the 10.30. WC No. 34001 on 11 vehicles put up a pretty dismal run; already being seven minutes late from Brockenhurst it managed to recoup less than a minute with an unchecked run and a maximum speed of only 57 mph. Fortunately the day finished a lot better on the 14.08 from Wareham (13.25 from Weymouth) with BB No. 34089 on six vehicles to Bournemouth and 12 forward (Run 13). Fourteen minutes late leaving Wareham, a minute was regained to Poole with a creditable maximum of 63 mph after Holton Heath and no further loss to Bournemouth. However, the single line working (SLW) from New Milton to Sway rather ruined the run so although speed reached the low- 70s after Brockenhurst, the stops before New Milton and Southampton ensured we lost another five minutes so we left the latter station 18 minutes late. A very good run followed (Table 2B) with speed in the mid to upper-50s up the bank to Roundwood and, despite a slight check through Winchester, recovered six minutes by Worting Junction – just over 34 minutes to there being better than the pre-engineering work norm. With speed in the mid-80s over the next 15 miles there was always a chance of recovering even more time, but a stop followed by local line running between Brookwood and Woking put paid to that. Undaunted, 34089 was opened out to reach 76 mph by Walton and despite the TSR through Berrylands was in site of a sub-90 minute run to Waterloo, but a stop outside the terminus finished that.

The following day on the same train (Run 14) we had WC No. 34018 with a heavier load from Southampton and despite being only 2½ minutes late from Wareham this had increased to 15 minutes late by Southampton. The running up Hinton Admiral bank was particularly poor with speed falling to only 41 mph so despite a clear run through the SLW we still took over a minute more than the previous day. I thought running might have been constrained by inclusion of two, four-wheeled PMVs limited to 75 mph, but I needn’t have worried as we plodded up the bank to Roundwood at a stately 42 mph losing three more minutes in the process. When we exceeded 60 mph after Basingstoke I became seriously worried that the 75 mph vans might hamper us, but I needn’t have been because a check after Winchfield soon stemmed progress and then with the local line running and a TSR to follow, speed barely reached 60 mph from Fleet to Waterloo – 36½ miles in 56 minutes – arriving 34 minutes late!

After a break of about three weeks, I was on the 14.49 from Brockenhurst on Sunday 20 November (Run 15). Nothing bigger than a Standard Class 5 could be found for this, albeit on only eight vehicles. Leaving only four minutes late, all this was recovered by Southampton with some spirited running through the New Forest. Leaving Southampton, we only got as far as the Airport before being stopped, but from there with speed rising to the low-50s, Worting Junction was cleared in just over 40 minutes. Running local line from Worting we had a slight check through Basingstoke followed by a TSR through Winchfield, but the loco appeared in good condition as speeds in the low-70s were reached either side of this.

Milepost 35½ -183 - October 2014

Table 2A Run No 12 13 14 Date 28 October 1966 28 October 1966 29 October 1966 Train 1146½ Brockenhurst 1408 Wareham 1408 Wareham Loco 34001 34089 34018 Load 10+BG/365/383 6/200/207 to B'mth 4+2PMV/170/179 to B'mth 12/406/455 ex B'mth 10+2PMV/382/402 ex B'mth m ch location sch m s mph sch m s mph m s mph 120 70 Wareham 0 0 00 14 late 0 00 2½ late 118 60 Holton Heath 3 24 54/63 4 00 54/60 116 00 Hamworthy Jn 6 18 40/50 7 01 45/46 113 62 Poole 11 9 57 10 35 13 12 00 /39 12 45 /41 112 00 Parkstone 3 43 37/40 3 45 38/41 110 53 Branksome 5 47 36*/53 5 46 -/54 108 01 Bournemouth 10 9 50 9 40 15 15 20 15 25 /tsr 106 60 Boscombe 4 13 34 5 03 23 106 23 Pokesdown 5 01 47 6 12 37/59 104 28 Christchurch 7 07 61/62 8 37 58 101 00 Hinton Admiral 10 28 56/52/ss 37s 12 21 51/41/43 98 45 New Milton 16 03 20 (SLW)/50 16 33 22 (SLW)/46 95 45 Sway 20 54 17 (end SLW) 21 53 17 (end SLW) 93 60 Lymington Jn 23 47 59 24 58 48 92 60 Brockenhurst 0 0 00 7L/55 24 46 68/73 26 01 62/69 88 00 Beaulieu Road 7 32 51/57 28 50 68/70 30 18 63/68 85 32 Lyndhurst Road 10 25 48/54 31 03 65/71 32 36 62/63 82 40 Totton 13 57 49 33 52 50 35 56 45 81 74 Redbridge 15 14 45 43/47 34 36 52/54/ss23s 36 45 44/s25 79 18 Southampton 20 19 15 36 40 23 41 58 . Table 2A Run No 15 16 17 19 Date 20 November 1966 26 November 1966 26 November 1966 10 December 1966 Train 1449 Brockenhurst 1130 Brockenhurst 1417½ New Milton 1146½ Brockenhurst Loco 73085 34024 76067 34002 Load 8/269/285 8/267/280 3/100/107 9+2BG/367/393 m ch location sch m s mph sch m s mph sch m s mph m s mph 98 45 New Milton 0 0 00 1½L/51 95 45 Sway 6½ 5 11 7 6 50 93 60 Lymington Jn 3 3 28 50 92 60 Brockenhurst 0 0 00 4L /57 0 0 00 T /59 4½ 4 59 0 00 9L '/64 10½ 9 50 /56 88 00 Beaulieu Rd 7 06 54/66 6 57 55/61 7 14 53/62 6 39 63/65 85 32 Lyndhurst Rd 9 31 63/65 9 29 54 10 10 18 9 01 63/64 10½ 10 55 /54 82 40 Totton 12 32 48/47 13 13 38 5 5 00 12 02 49 5½ 5 35 81 74 Redbridge 17½ 13 20 49 17½ 14 18 39/43/s 2 00 34/44 12 50 47/50 79 18 Southampton 22½ 17 14 22½ 19 33 6 6 35 17 03

Milepost 35½ -184 - October 2014 Table 2A Run No 20 21 23 Date 18 December 1966 28 December 1966 31 December 1966 Train 1449 Brockenhurst 1406 Wareham 1636 Bournemouth Loco 73020 34056 34047 Load 10/336/355 6/198/210 to Bmth 9Pull+2BG/410/435 12/402/446 ex Bmth m ch location m s mph m s mph sch m s av.mph 120 70 Wareham 0 00 118 60 Holton Heath 4 11 54/61 116 00 Hamworthy Jn 7 14 38/48 113 62 Poole 11 25 0 00 /40 112 00 Parkstone 3 40 37/44 110 53 Branksome 5 45 37/50 108 01 Bournemouth 10 10 0 00 0 0 00 106 60 Boscombe 4 32 40 3 15 23.0 106 23 Pokesdown 5 15 49/62 3 55 45.0 104 28 Christchurch 7 18 59 5 55 60.0 101 00 Hinton Admiral 10 40 57/52 8 58 63.9 98 45 New Milton 13 28 59/64 11 24 61.7 95 45 Sway 16 23 63 14 03 67.9 93 60 Lymington Jn 18 02 66 15 38 66.4 92 60 Brockenhurst 0 00 /50 19 01 57/66 16 32 66.6 88 00 Beaulieu Road 7 58 43/53 23 33 62/68 20 28 72.2 85 32 Lyndhurst Road 10 58 51/60 25 50 60/s37 22 40 68.2 82 40 Totton 14 18 47 29 19 39/23s 25 28 64.3 81 74 Redbridge 15 11 43 30 50 25/41/s 26 12 80 14 Millbrook 28 27 50.0 79 18 Southampton 20 15 37 00 35½ 31 08 sigs . Table 2B Run No 13 14 15 Date 28-Oct-66 29-Oct-66 20-Nov-66 Train 1408 Wareham 1408 Wareham 1449 Brockenhurst Loco 34089 34018 73085 Load 12/406/455 12+2PMV/448/473 8/269/285 m ch location sch m s mph m s mph sch m s mph 79 18 Southampton 40 45 00 52 10 26½ 21 40 78 19 Northam Jn 4 3 15 3 50 23 4 3 13 77 9 St Denys 5 00 41 5 50 36 5 02 39 75 56 Swaythling 6 56 46 8 03 41 7 05 44 74 60 Southampton Apt 8 03 51 9 16 45 8 15 50/ss45s 73 33 Eastleigh 11 9 38 56 11 09 46 11 12 18 19 69 49 Shawford 13 42 59/s or tsr 16 20 41 18 18 47/50 66 40 Winchester 17 12 50 20 53 42 22 08 49 64 23 Winchester Jn 19 38 55 24 01 43 23 24 41 53 62 0 Wallers Ash 22 13 55/54 27 22 42 27 24 51 60 15 Weston 24 11 56 29 57 42 29 32 52 58 0 Micheldever 26 30 58 33 05 42 32 05 53 56 0 Roundwood 28 37 55/67 35 57 42 34 24 53 52 40 Wootton 32 01 57/56 40 46 44 37 54 66/57 50 20 Worting Jn 40½ 34 19 64 43 49 48 42½ 40 11 61/s47 47 60 Basingstoke 36 24 79/86 46 35 60/69 43 05 52 42 20 Hook 40 27 83 51 31 67 48 12 70/72

Milepost 35½ -185 - October 2014 m ch location sch m s mph m s mph sch m s mph 39 60 Winchfield 42 15 84/86 53 46 68/s24 50 37 53/49tsr 36 40 Fleet 44 34 84/70 59 11 35 54 24 61/70 33 20 Farnborough 47 08 72 63 40 50/52 57 21 67 31 0 MP31 48 58 74/82/ss25s 66 19 51/54 59 25 65 19 28 0 Brookwood 54 01 30 XLL/38 71 20 XLL/41 61 58 74 24 60 Woking Jn 64 60 22 24 XTL 77 04 25 XTL 68½ 65 35 21 XTL 24 25 Woking 61 30 36 78 57 23 67 00 21 60 West Byfleet 64 33 64 82 55 52 70 04 63 20 34 Byfleet 65 42 69/71 84 20 58/60 71 15 69 19 9 Weybridge 66 52 68 85 43 55/53 72 17 66 17 8 Walton 68 41 76 88 20 57 74 13 75 16 0 Hersham 69 30 75 89 07 54 75 03 74/76 14 28 Esher 70 46 70 90 52 52 76 17 13 27 Hampton Ct Jn 78 71 46 70 92 01 51 83½ 77 12 69 12 0 Surbiton 73 02 59 94 28 30sigs/tsr 78 27 64 11 0 Berrylands 74 13 43tsr 96 39 28/25tsr 79 23 66 9 60 New Malden 75 48 52 99 23 33 80 31 68 8 60 Raynes Park 76 55 59 101 07 43 81 27 61 7 25 Wimbledon 78 25 61 103 08 45/51 82 55 57 5 47 Earlsfield 80 13 57 105 20 50 84 50 54 4 0 Clapham Jn 89 82 03 42/50 107 25 37/42 93½ 86 45 39/30tsr 1 29 Vauxhall 85 47 40/ss41s 111 52 31 91 18 34 0 11 Waterloo 96 91 00 115 25 100½ 94 15

Being three minutes to the good turning on to the main line at Woking Junction with another burst of speed and a maximum of 76 mph after Hersham, Waterloo was reached six minutes early in just over 94 minutes. The following Saturday it was a case of find the steam turns, so we had WC No. 34024 on the 11.30 from Brockenhurst (11.07 Bournemouth) as far as Winchester on a very easy schedule that needed little effort (Run 16) and Standard Class 4 2-6-0 No. 76067 on an all stations local between New Milton and Southampton (Run 17, Table 2A). The schedules for the locals were quite demanding and despite sprightly running, time was not kept over most sections. So we ended up on the 13.25 from Weymouth which was now Class 47 hauled back to Waterloo. How it toyed with the schedule, with checks before Eastleigh and Winchester, followed by a signal stop before Winchester Junction, D1682 just sailed away to 74 mph by Roundwood and then reached 80+ mph either side of Winchfield (TSR here?), so that by the time we passed Woking Junction we were still 3½ minutes early, increased to 5½ minutes early with 85 mph through Hersham.

With the days getting shorter, there was less incentive to stay out long, so by 10 December it was out on the 08.35 from Waterloo and back on the 11.07 from Bournemouth (boarded at Brockenhurst). This return working (Run 19) had unrebuilt WC No. 34002 in charge on 11 vehicles. Being 9½ minutes late leaving, it made a good effort to peg back the minutes with three gained by Southampton and another one by the Airport and yet another by Winchester. I have known many worse runs than this and although 49 mph at Roundwood isn’t amazing, I suppose it wasn’t bad for a run-down unrebuilt. By running only in the low to mid-60s we actually just about scraped into Waterloo on time despite 2 TSRs. On Sunday 18 December it was Standard Class 5 No. 73020 on the 14.49 from Brockenhurst with 10 on. I’m not sure much comment is needed. With speed falling from 45 mph at Eastleigh to 29 mph after Weston, it was obvious everything was not well up front, but with ‘breathers’ every so often at least we kept going with a maximum of 66 mph on the downhill grades. The signal stop outside Waterloo made things look worse than they actually were.

Milepost 35½ -186 - October 2014

Table 2B Run No 16 18 19 Date 26 November 1966 26 November 1966 10 December 1966 Train 1130 Brockenhurst 1516 Southampton 1146½ Brockenhurst Loco 34024 D1682 34002 Load 8/267/280 11/369/388 9+2BG/367/393 m ch location sch m s mph sch m s mph m s mph 79 18 Southampton 26½ 25 10 0 0 00 T 20 40 78 19 Northam Jn 4 4 06 4 3 03 3 29 77 09 St Denys 6 05 37 4 43 46 5 27 35 75 56 Swaythling 8 13 41/46 6 24 54/58 7 24 47 74 60 Southampton Apt 9 25 45/s 7 21 56 9 03 sigs 9 55 /30s 73 33 Eastleigh 12 12 42 11 9 55 25 4 35 14 14 55 6 25 69 49 Shawford 7 57 47/51 14 22 66/69 7 53 46/48 66 40 Winchester 13 12 11 17 22 43sigs/ss2m13s 12 20 13 55 64 23 Winchester Jn 23 47 42 4 55 38 62 00 Wallers Ash 26 20 64 8 22 43 60 15 Weston 28 01 68 10 50 44 58 00 Micheldever 29 55 71 13 48 46 56 00 Roundwood 31 35 74/78 16 19 49 52 40 Wootton 34 28 65 20 32 51 50 20 Worting Jn 40½ 36 33 62 (LL)/66 23 05 56/35s 47 60 Basingstoke 38 56 63/82 26 55 28 25 42 20 Hook 43 27 77 7 48 61 39 60 Winchfield 45 33 52 10 13 63/68 36 40 Fleet 49 29 65/74 13 11 66 33 20 Farnborough 52 15 68 16 10 63 31 00 MP31 54 07 75/82 18 22 58 28 00 Brookwood 56 20 77/81 21 53 31/28tsr/46 24 60 Woking Jn 64 60 25 16 XTL 26 57 24 25 Woking 61 41 27 53 30 55 21 60 West Byfleet 64 59 56 4 56 53 20 34 Byfleet 66 10 69 6 17 57 19 09 Weybridge 67 11 74 7 32 55 17 08 Walton 68 55 84 9 52 63 16 00 Hersham 69 38 85 10 51 62 14 28 Esher 70 44 80 12 18 63 13 27 Hampton Ct Jn 78 71 37 72 13 25 61 12 00 Surbiton 72 48 64 14 46 60 11 00 Berrylands 73 46 61 15 49 57 9 60 New Malden 74 58 65 17 08 58 8 60 Raynes Park 75 54 63 18 10 57 7 25 Wimbledon 77 50 29sigs/44 19 42 57 5 47 Earlsfield 80 40 41 21 36 54 4 00 Clapham Jn 89 83 03 38/43/30tsr 23 33 44/23tsr 1 29 Vauxhall 87 58 35 28 33 28 0 11 Waterloo 96 90 34 32 15

After Christmas, I had one trip out to Wareham and then on New Year’s Eve, the last booked steam Bournemouth Belle. On 28 December I joined the 14.06 from Wareham with BB No.

Milepost 35½ -187 - October 2014 Table 2B Run No 20 21 22 23 Date 18 December 1966 28 December 1966 31 Dec1966 31 December 1966 Train 1449 Brockenhurst 1406 Wareham 1021 Basingstoke 1636 Bournemouth Loco 73020 34056 D824 34047 Load 10/336/355 12/402/446 11/375/400 9Pull+2BG/410/435 m ch location m s mph m s mph m s mph sch m s av.mph 79 18 Southampton 0 00 0 00 /5s 39½ 0 00 78 19 Northam Jn 3 21 /s 6 52 4 3 27 77 09 St Denys 5 57 29 9 38 37 5 12 75 56 Swaythling 8 26 36 11 49 43 6 58 48.0 74 60 Southampton Apt 9 50 40 13 02 48 7 58 57.0 sigs 18 sigs 73 33 Eastleigh 11 46 45 16 03 plat line 11 10 20 34.1 69 49 Shawford 17 16 38 22 50 45 15 22 44.9 66 40 Winchester 22 24 35 26 43 52 18 38 57.1 64 23 Winchester Jn 26 12 33 29 10 54 20 45 59.6 62 00 Wallers Ash 30 42 31 31 49 52 60 15 Weston 34 14 30/29 33 54 52/54 58 00 Micheldever 38 38 30 36 23 52 26 5 0 61.9 56 00 Roundwood 42 30 31 38 43 51 52 40 Wootton 47 28 48 42 23 61/57 50 20 Worting Jn 50 04 56 44 36 61 40 ½ 37 15 44.6 47 60 Basingstoke 52 36 61/66 47 07 60 0 00 39 42 61.2 42 20 Hook 57 53 59/61 52 03 71 6 38 72 44 09 74.1 39 60 Winchfield 60 26 58/60 54 11 72/75 8 38 76/80 46 10 74.0 36 40 Fleet 63 45 54 56 48 74/75 11 10 77 48 45 75.5 33 20 Farnborough 67 19 52 59 27 73 13 45 74/78 51 23 74.0 31 00 MP31 69 52 51/58 61 21 71 15 31 75/79 28 00 Brookwood 73 07 48/47tsr 63 51 77 17 49 77 56 17 64.2 24 60 Woking Jn 76 56 54 66 43 67 20 38 56 65½ sigs 24 25 Woking 77 26 60 67 09 71 21 33 63 05 32.5 0 00 sigs 21 60 West Byfleet 79 47 66 69 10 75 4 08 62 67 25 35.5 20 34 Byfleet 80 55 66 70 12 5 18 68 68 37 66.2 19 09 Weybridge 82 02 63/61 71 15 76 6 20 67 71 22 28.6 sigs 17 08 Walton 84 09 66 74 05 38sigs 8 10 77 74 33 37.5 16 00 Hersham 85 04 66 75 32 8 57 78 75 33 54.0 14 28 Esher 86 27 66 77 20 53 10 06 77 76 58 69.7 13 27 Hampton Ct Jn 87 30 78 32 11 01 74 77 58 60.7 12 00 Surbiton 88 50 60 79 56 12 09 68 79 09 60.0 11 00 Berrylands 89 52 55 80 57 13 03 62 80 06 63.0 9 60 New Malden 91 08 60 82 13 sigs 14 15 60 81 29 60.5 8 60 Raynes Park 92 09 60 84 07 15 28 20tsr 83 25 tsr 7 25 Wimbledon 93 39 57 87 00 sigs 18 35 50 86 43 5 47 Earlsfield 95 37 52 89 38 20 37 57 89 07 4 00 Clapham Jn 97 50 91 38 22 33 31/48 89½ 91 15 1 29 Vauxhall 102 22 /ss1m 95 37 26 26 38 95 10 0 11 Waterloo 109 23 99 27 29 23 96½ 98 58

34056 in charge on six vehicles to Bournemouth and 12 forward. Whilst you couldn’t really criticise the running to Bournemouth, it didn’t really have much ‘zip’ in it – the same onwards to Southampton and with no TSRs in place only the signal checks approaching Southampton stopped it being a 34 minute run. It was an inauspicious start from Southampton with a virtual stand at Tunnel Junction followed by being routed through the platform line at Eastleigh. As a result, four minutes were lost to Worting Junction with a steady, but

Milepost 35½ -188 - October 2014 unspectacular 51/52 mph up the bank to Roundwood. Once clear of Basingstoke, speed was in the mid-70s and with an unusually clear road through Woking there was hope of a good run to Waterloo, but we caught something up and suffered checks all the way in from Walton. On New Year’s Eve, after a fill in run to Basingstoke, I had one of my rare trips with a Warship, D824, on 11 vehicles. It performed quite well taking only 21½ minutes to Woking with a maximum of 80 mph and under half-an-hour onwards to Waterloo despite a TSR at Raynes Park.

The last up Belle (Run 23), with Driver Porter again, had WC No. 34047 on the return as apparently WC No. 34093 wasn’t good enough – however I’m not sure its replacement was any better. Only average speeds are quoted as it was quite dark by 16.30 at the end of December. A very good run was made to Southampton with 60 mph being maintained up Hinton Admiral bank and speeds of around 75 mph after Brockenhurst. Thirty one minutes to Southampton was a good effort. Once again, a check occurred approaching Eastleigh – was it quite impossible to manage a clear road for the ‘crack’ expresses? Anyway, impetus was lost and it took until Winchester Junction to reach 60 mph which was maintained all the way to Roundwood. Obviously this rather drained the boiler as steam was shut off until Worting Junction passed around 40 mph, but still three minutes early. No. 34047 then rolled along at around 75 mph until, once again, Woking saw fit to interrupt our progress. With a couple of checks afterwards and a TSR, we eventually lost 2½ minutes, which rather spoiled the finale.Runs 24-27 show a couple of round trips on the Lymington branch – hardly a high speed railway. I’m not sure what the line speed was, but 45 mph seems to ring a bell. A nice jaunt with much harder work on the return journey. Run No 24 25 Date 28 October 1966 18 December 1966 Train - ex Brockenhurst 1107 1406 Loco 80019 41320 Load 3/100/103 2/67/71 m ch location m s mph m s mph 92 62 Brockenhurst 0 00 4 late 0 00 7½ late 93 60 Lymington Jn 3 37 25/49 2 49 25/23/43 95 05 99 02 Lymington Town 9 57 9 45 10 33 99 48 Lymington Pier 1 48 4m26s run round Run No 26 27 Date 28 October 1966 18 December 1966 Train - ex Lymington 1132 14xx Loco 80019 41320 Load 3/100/103 2/67/71 m ch location m s mph m s mph 99 48 Lymington Pier 0 00 99 02 Lymington Town 1 44 T 0 00 33/28/32 2 36 /39 95 05 Lymington Jn 8 35 30 7 44 27 93 60 92 62 Brockenhurst 10 50 10 18 Lastly I cannot this period go by without reference to that much publicised railtour from Waterloo to Exeter with Merchant Navy Class Pacifics (MN) Nos. 35023 and 35026. Run 28 shows my version of the journey – the run in D.W.Winkworth’s book ‘Bulleid’s Pacifics’ was from the footplate and shows much more detail, but my run doesn’t vary that much from his. However, the thrill of achieving 100 mph with a steam loco (for the one and only time) is something I will always remember. When you recall that the train was timed in 78 minutes with NO TSRs and on the day there were two, and in high speed locations, to only lose 1½

Milepost 35½ -189 - October 2014 minutes was exceptional (DWW estimates the net time 71¼ mins).

Run No 28 m ch location sch m s mph Date 15 October 1966 21 60 West Byfleet 24 32 /tsr15 Train 0910 Waterloo Railtour 24 25 Woking 30 32 47 Loco 35023 24 60 Woking Jn 28 31 05 57 Load 8/267/292 28 00 Brookwood 34 07 71/75 m ch location sch m s mph 31 00 MP31 36 37 72 0 11 Waterloo 0 0 00 T 33 20 Farnborough 38 22 80 1 29 Vauxhall 4 00 36/54 36 40 Fleet 40 46 85/88 4 00 Clapham Jn 7 7 30 38 39 60 Winchfield 43 05 81/85 5 47 Earlsfield 9 38 53 42 20 Hook 45 49 22tsr/70 7 25 Wimbledon 11 34 60/57 47 60 Basingstoke 51 57 65 8 60 Raynes Park 13 03 63/66 50 20 Worting Jn 50 54 13 71 9 60 New Malden 13 59 65 52 28 Oakley 55 57 80 11 00 Berrylands 15 06 69 55 40 Overton 58 14 89/92 12 00 Surbiton 15 58 72 59 09 Whitchurch 60 40 89 13 27 Hampton Ct Jn 17 17 05 78 61 00 Hurstbourne 61 56 93/100 14 28 Esher 17 55 78/80 66 20 Andover 65 25 97 16 00 Hersham 19 08 79 72 49 Grateley 69 26 81 17 08 Walton 19 56 80 77 40 Idmiston Halt 72 54 94 19 09 Weybridge 21 35 83 78 00 Porton 73 13 94/96 20 34 Byfleet 22 28 83 82 32 Tunnel Jn 75½ 76 27 50 83 43 Salisbury 78 79 32 Run No 29 m ch location sch m s mph Date 15 October 1966 82 32 Tunnel Jn 3 3 03 Train Railtour 78 00 Porton 7 53 58 Loco 35026 to Salisbury 77 40 Idmiston Halt 8 23 59/23tsr 35023 from Salisbury 72 49 Grateley 15 43 70 Load 8/267/292 66 20 Andover Jn 20 23 91/74 m ch location sch m s mph 61 00 Hurstbourne 24 15 83 ## 30 Exeter Central 0 0 00 59 09 Whitchurch 25 40 81/77 170 21 Exmouth Jn 4 3 28 28 55 40 Overton 28 25 83/80 168 40 Pinhoe 5 48 67/72 52 28 Oakley 30 45 82 166 55 Broad Clyst 7 20 70 50 20 Worting Jn 32 32 20 77/74 163 00 Whimple 10 47 56 47 60 Basingstoke 34 17 80/88 161 20 MP 12 46 49/59 42 20 Hook 39 01 /tsr20 159 26 Sidmouth Jn 19 15 50 23s/58/50 39 60 Winchfield 43 28 61 154 55 Honiton 21 18 53 36 40 Fleet 46 13 78/85 153 40 MP 22 46 49/80 33 20 Farnborough 48 36 82 147 65 Seaton Jn 28 12 60/79 31 00 MP31 50 13 85/91 144 40 Axminster 34 30 48 75/72 28 00 Brookwood 52 15 88/80 139 33 Chard Jn 34 52 75/72/77 24 60 Woking Jn 52 54 35 85 133 20 MP 40 02 67 24 25 Woking 54 57 83/90 131 34 Crewkerne 41 30 82/85 21 60 West Byfleet 56 41 86 126 40 MP 45 05 77 20 34 Byfleet 57 33 88/91 124 71 Sutton Bingham 46 17 85 19 09 Weybridge 58 30 85/83 122 52 Yeovil Jn 55 47 55 79/72 17 08 Walton 60 01 88 118 03 Sherborne 60 51 27 79/66 16 00 Hersham 60 43 87 114 31 Milborne Port 54 27 72 14 28 Esher 61 47 83 112 00 Templecombe 66 56 24 80/88 13 27 Hampton Ct Jn 63 62 36 83 107 78 Buckhorn Weston Tnl W 59 22 72 12 00 Surbiton 63 47 45sigs 107 44 Buckhorn Weston Tnl E 59 44 69 11 00 Berrylands 65 10 44/40 105 20 Gillingham 61 35 82 9 60 New Malden 67 01 44 101 12 Semley 65 15 57/79 8 60 Raynes Park 68 17 55 96 16 Tisbury 69 23 73/65 7 25 Wimbledon 70 06 32sigs 91 72 Dinton 73 07 72/78 5 47 Earlsfield 73 58 47 86 11 Wilton South 91 78 10 36/40 4 00 Clapham Jn 73 76 05 33/52 83 43 Salisbury 95 83 13 1 29 Vauxhall 80 13 28/30 83 43 Salisbury 0 0 00 0 11 Waterloo 80 83 38

Milepost 35½ -190 - October 2014 However, what is not so widely publicised is the return run from Exeter with No. 35026 to Salisbury and No. 35023 forward. There were very few non-stop runs from Exeter to Salisbury so it is difficult to compare the run, but the nearest I can find is another railtour in DWW’s book in October 1965 with MN No. 35022 (which funnily enough was also severely checked at Sidmouth Junction). The running of 35026 was not up to the same standard, but 49 mph at MP161¼ and Honiton Tunnel, 67 mph at MP133¼, 77 mph at MP126¼, 72 mph at Milborne Port, 69 mph at Buckhorn Weston Tunnel and 57 mph at Semley are very good efforts with speeds of over 80 mph in between. The difference between the two runs was only just over two minutes as far as Gillingham, but then I think 35026 was eased a little – we were over 10 minutes up on the schedule. The onward journey with 35023 was just as exciting with 59 mph being reached at Idmiston Halt before a 23 mph TSR slowing. 91 mph through Andover followed by running around 80 mph all the way to Worting Junction was up with the best performances recorded and after the 20 mph TSR after Hook to go through Woking at virtually full speed was a real delight. However, after being half-a-minute to the good at Hampton Court Junction we caught something up and the rest of the run was ruined – a sub 80 minute run was on the cards until then.

And so ends 1966. In these three months no Merchant Navys were withdrawn, but five WC/BB bit the dust, but not ones I had seen, so they were probably out of use for some time. Seven Standard Class 5s and 10 other Standards also went in this period. So we start 1967 with 10 MN, 36 WC/BB, 18 Standard Class 5s and 41 smaller Standards to see the service through until July. With the number of steam turns rapidly diminishing that should have been ample.

YORKSHIRE STEAM CIRCULAR AND SCARBOROUGH SPA EXPRESS

Noel Proudlock

The RPS Archive contains a large number of entries featuring steam operation between York, Leeds, Harrogate and Scarborough in both directions of travel and it is only a major effort by Martin Barrett extracting, printing and posting this substantial collection of logs to me that has enabled their scrutiny. My own considerable number of runs since 2008 are not yet in the database but have been incorporated in the review I am making of these services. Obviously, presenting every journey is quite impracticable so I intend to show that with the best overall time, the slowest unchecked overall time and selected instances where performance over an intermediate section such as Church Fenton to Micklefield was better than that of the fastest overall run.

The sections over which the train no longer runs, namely York – Harrogate – Leeds and reverse will be presented first as they can now be regarded as complete. Between Leeds and York some further runs may emerge although the three days a week Scarborough Spa Express no longer runs that way. From my point of view, running between Harrogate and York is the most difficult to review because I have no logs of my own with which to make a comparison and interrupted running caused by the token exchanges to and from the single line sections renders average speeds an uncertain source for determining minimum and maximum speeds where the recorders have not shown them or, indeed, to support speeds they have shown. This especially affects the speed at which the token exchanges were made which, before GPS was available as in the case of most of these runs, could only be estimated. Some recorders merely noted ‘slow’, some nothing at all.

The first runs were in the summer of 1978 and advertised as ‘The Yorkshire Steam Circular’, two round trips a day York – Leeds – Harrogate – York with the circuit also on occasion added to an excursion to York from elsewhere, so the first section presented is Harrogate – York. The honours for the actual fastest time, 36min 42sec go to A4 No. 60022 ‘Mallard’

Milepost 35½ -191 - October 2014 running as LNER No. 4468 on 26 April 1987 hauling 407 tons tare and timed by Bernard Harrison. V2 2-6-2 ‘Green Arrow’ and 9F 2-10-0 ‘Evening Star’ both came closely behind in 36min 51sec and 36min 55sec respectively, timed by Peter Semmens on the very first run on 25 June 1978 and Bob Spiers on 27 August 1978. Brian Basterfield recorded the slowest run not having an actual signal stop, behind ‘Evening Star’ on 14 August 1983 taking 43min 27sec. The longest time of all, not included in the table, was ‘Mallard’ on 25 April 1987, timed by Peter Semmens, which suffered six signal stands to take 73min 36sec.

To create the table which follows and those which will appear in possible future presentations I have had to resort to considerable editing to achieve the necessary consistency from the very varied practices of the recorders. In several cases, comprehensive records at mileposts have been made without noting the time at customary timing points in the tables. For these, the time for passing that point can be reliably calculated. In others actual speeds are shown only at a few points or in some not at all and in these cases they can only be derived from the averages supported by comparison with other logs where both are available. The more steam logs of my own there are over the section the better I have been able to make these estimations. TABLE A Date 26 April 1987 25 June 1978 27 August 1978 Loco (BR No.) 60022 60800 92220 Name Mallard Green Arrow Evening Star Running as LNER 4468 LNER 4771 load 407 10+1 Pullman 402 recorder B Harrison PWB Semmens R D Spiers m ch location m s mph av m s Est mph av m s Est mph av 20 39+ Harrogate 0 00 0 00 0 00 19 48+ Dragon 40 2 02 45 26.0 18 27 Starbeck 3 46 34.2 3 50 35/30 33.7 4 10 30 35.6 16 50 Knaresborough 7 31 sigs 1/ T 27.4 8 18 33/T 15 23.0 7 15 35/T 20 33.3 13 62 Goldsborough 11 27 56/63 43.4 /65 11 40 50/60 38.7 10 20 Cattal 16 33 T 2 41.4 16 59 T 44.0 16 28 T 20 44.1 8 61 Hammerton 19 52 36/T 2 26.9 20 53 30/T 22.9 19 37 -/T20 28.3 6 06 Marston Moor 23 38 51 42.8 24 43 55 42.1 23 58 42 37.1 5 11 Hessay 24 42 56 52.8 25 20 40 41.1 2 72 Poppleton 28 32 T 2 35.0 29 17 T 43.0 29 11 T 20 34.9 1 49 Skelton Jn 31 25 38 26.9 31 45 45 31.3 31 55 42 28.2 0 00 York 36 42 18.3 36 51 19.0 36 55 sigs 19.4 Date 14 August 1983 27 May 1979 14 October 1978 Loco (BR No.) 92220 60103 35028 Name Evening Star Flying Scotsman Clan Line Running as LNER 4472 load 301 12 11 recorder B Basterfield PWB Semmens PWB Semmens m ch location m s mph av m s Est mph av m s mph av 20 39+ Harrogate 0 00 0 00 /40 0 00 18 27 Starbeck 4 53 37/30 26.4 4 13 27/33 30.6 4 31 29.4 16 50 Knaresborough 9 03 35/T 24.7 7 49 T/15 28.5 9 37 sigs/T 20.1 13 62 Goldsborough 13 58 50/46 34.8 12 33 55 36.1 13 49 61 40.7 12 16 Hopperton 15 53 50 49.3 14 19 52 53.5 15 20 64 62.3 10 20 Cattal 19 37 T 31.3 17 31 T15 36.6 18 50 T 33.4 8 61 Hammerton 23 00 38/T 26.4 21 17 35/T15 23.7 22 44 -/T 21.1 6 06 Marston Moor 27 24 49 36.6 25 57 44 34.6 26 42 50 40.7 5 11 Hessay 28 33 50 48.9 27 12 47 45.0 2 72 Poppleton 32 47 T 31.7 30 46 T15 37.6 31 30 T 39.7 1 49 Skelton Jn 36 06 29/slack 23.3 0 00 York 43 27 sigs 15 13.2 40 59 17.0 40 25 19.5

Milepost 35½ -192 - October 2014 + after reposting. FORMERLEY 18.42/0 Starbeck Jn, 1.06/19.29 Dragon, 1838 Harrogate From a locomotive performance aspect, the time from Knaresborough’s token exchange to Skelton Junction, including the three intermediate ones, is perhaps more telling than that overall. Here, the first run with ‘Green Arrow’ on 25 June 1978 in 23min 27sec is the fastest followed by ‘Mallard’ on the fastest overall run taking 23min 54sec. The full list of Knaresborough to Skelton Junction times follows to show the work of all the locomotives involved; BR numbers are used to avoid confusion. Date Loco No.Cars Time Date Loco No.Cars Time 25-6-78 60800 11 23.27 6-8-78 45305 11 25.57 26-4-87 60022 11 23.54 20-8-78 92220 12 26.29N 14-10-78 35028 11 24.38N 28-8-78 92220 10 26.43 27-8-78 92220 11 24.40 17-5-80 46201 11 26.45 30-7-78 45305 10 24.43 14-8-83 92220 9 27.03 1-8-85 34092 9 25.00N 11-11-78 35028 10 27.05 1-9-09 70013 12 25.06 13-8-85 30777 9 27.59 25-6-78 60800 11 25.16 17-8-83 46229 9 29.05N 15-8-85 92220 9 25.35N 25-4-87 60022 12 29.18N 27-5-79 60103 12 25.42N 10-5-80 46229 12 31.32 10-8-82 34092 10 25.45 29-8-88 92220 11 31.49 27-8-78 92220 12 25.47 N – Poppleton to Skelton Jn time estimated – at 2¾ minutes The initial steam working only operated York – Leeds – Harrogate – York but when, in 1982, it was extended to Scarborough it became necessary to arrive in York from the west and so the morning run started York – Harrogate – Leeds – York and thence to Scarborough. The evening run took the same route in reverse. York to Harrogate is a somewhat tougher task than Harrogate to York, being generally uphill although not steeply so until leaving Knaresborough and finally at 1 in 66 into Harrogate station.

In this direction the fastest overall run is also by an A4 Pacific, this time No. 60009 ‘Union of South Africa’ on 9 August 1984 in 36min 23sec, timed by Frank Hartley. Close behind is A4 No. 60022 ‘Mallard’ on 26 April 1987 in 36min 31sec timed by Bernard Harrison. The Stanier Pacific No.46229 ‘Duchess of Hamilton’ did remarkably poorly on two eastbound trips but on 10 July 1984 made the westbound run in 37min 27sec, also timed by Frank Hartley. To complete the range of performance, the slowest run without signal delays in this direction occurred on 24 August 1982 with Black Five 4-6-0 No. 45305 in 42min 43sec, timed by Charles Foss, whilst the slowest time of all, not included in the tables, was on 9 July 1985 by King Arthur 4-6-0 No. 30777 ‘Sir Lamiel’ taking 55min 29sec including 12 minutes standing at signals. Frustratingly, on 17 August 1982 WC 4-6-2 34092 ‘City of Wells’ suffered signal stops at both ends of the journey but in between managed to equal the second fastest Poppleton to Goldsborough time followed by a fast climb to Harrogate. Unchecked, it might well have bettered No. 46229’s time at about 37min 15sec.

After a ten year gap, the routing was re-introduced by the West Coast Railway Company but with a passenger stop at Knaresborough. This was repeated the next year but for the last year of this routing a stop at Poppleton was also inserted. Working stops at Hammerton and Cattal were also scheduled but on the occasions when the run was logged these were never made so I have standardised the logs showing a non-stop section from Poppleton to Knaresborough. Only one of these runs, on 26 July 2007, again with A4 No.60009 ‘Union of South Africa’, timed by Frank Hartley, neared the times of the fastest overall journeys and so is included in the tables.

Milepost 35½ -193 - October 2014 TABLE B Date 9 August 1984 26 August 1987 10 July 1984 Loco(BR No.) 60009 60022 46229 Name Union of South Africa Mallard Duchess of Hamilton Running as LNER 4468 Load 301 407 301 Driver Bill Tomlinson Recorder F.Hartley F Harrison F Hartley m ch m s mph av. m s mph av m s mph av 0 00 York 0 00 0 00 0 00 1 49 Skelton Jn 5 49 22/S15/X31 16.6 4 57 19.5 4 30 38 21.5 2 72 Poppleton 8 21 36/T23 30.5 7 25 T10 31.3 7 20 T11 27.2 5 11 Hessay 11 26 55 43.5 11 24 39 33.7 11 11 47 34.9 6 06 Marston Moor 12 28 58 54.5 12 40 50 44.4 12 23 50/56 46.9 8 61 Hammerton 16 16 60/T20 42.4 16 14 T20 45.2 16 15 T17 41.7 10 20 Cattal 19 07 37/T21 31.3 19 27 38/T15 27.7 19 35 34/T20 26.8 12 16 Hopperton 21 51 55 42.8 22 56 51 39.2 22 50 54 36.0 13 62 Goldsborough 23 29 58 57.9 24 51 48/51 49.3 24 36 53/60 53.5 16 50 Knaresborough 27 41 T22 40.7 28 45 T15 43.5 29 10 T9 37.4 17 69 Belmont 30 02 36/33 31.6 32 05 34 25.5 18 27 Starbeck 30 51 37 34.8 32 20 40 28.7 32 56 30 33.4 19 48+ Dragon 32 57# 33 33.2 35 05# 34 32.4 20 39+ Harrogate 36 23 15.5 36 31 30.8 37 27 26.0 # at MP19½ # at MP19½ + after reposting. FORMERLEY 18.42/0 Starbeck Jn, 1.06/19.29 Dragon, 1838 Harrogate Date 24 August 1982 26 July 2007 3 September 2009 Loco(BR No.) 45305 60009 70013 Name Union of South Africa Oliver Cromwell Running as LMS5305 Load 338 360 428 Driver Albert Seymour Recorder C Foss F Hartley F Hartley m ch m s mph av m s mph av m s mph av 0 00 York 0 00 0 00 0 00 1 49 Skelton Jn 4 54 28 19.7 4 41 42 20.7 5 00 34/33 23.7 2 72 Poppleton 8 30 21/T14 21.4 7 29 T12 27.6 8 40 15.1 0 00 5 11 Hessay 12 34 46 33.0 10 47 56 40.7 5 08 48 26.1 6 06 Marston Moor 13 51 47 43.9 11 44 61 59.2 6 17 50/52 48.9 8 61 Hammerton 17 46 T21 41.2 15 23 63/T8 44.2 11 20 45/T8 31.9

10 20 Cattal 21 37 T23 23.2 19 10 32/T14 23.6 16 00 27/T7 18.8

12 16 Hopperton 25 04 45 33.9 22 05 55/57 40.1 19 40 46/49 31.9 13 62 Goldsborough 27 07 47/45 46.1 23 46 54 56.1 21 42 43 46.5 16 50 Knaresborough 31 47 T21 36.6 28 05 39.3 33 37 + sigs 19.7 net 0 00 0 00 17 69 Belmont 3 35 31/29 21.0 5 56 20 12.5 18 27 Starbeck 36 20 20 ½/24 22.6 4 26 33 31.6 7 06 29 24.4 19 48+ Dragon 21 6 36$ 38 35.0 9 33 34 30.9 20 39+ Harrogate 42 43 20.2 9 14 25.6 12 14 25.2 $ footbridge + sig stop 26.23 - 29.38

Many runs suffered signal delays approaching Knaresborough, on several occasions to a stand, and so to summarise performance over the rising section the time taken from Poppleton to passing Goldsborough is the most representative. The time taken to pass Hessay after stopping at Poppleton is one to 1½ minutes more than that after passing even at slow speed to pick up the token and those 2009 runs turn out to be the last four in the list

Milepost 35½ -194 - October 2014 by quite a margin. The fastest of these, by Oliver Cromwell, is included in the table

The increasing steepness of the climb beyond Knaresborough has been referred to and compared with a typical time of 10 to 10½ minutes from passing Knaresborough at slow speed to deliver the token or between 12 and 13¾ minutes when starting from the passenger stop the following deserve particular note:-

Date Loco (BR No.) Load Time Date Loco (BR No.) Load Time 26-8-87 60022 407 7.46 17-8-82 34092 338 8.55 10-7-84 46229 301 8.17 26-7-97 60009 360 9.14 9-8-84 60009 301 8.42 From a stop

‘Mallard’ leads the field again. Lastly is the list of times from Poppleton to Goldsborough. Train weight is given in vehicle numbers since many logs showed this rather than tonnage and it is more reliable to convert tons to vehicle numbers rather than the reverse.

Date Loco (BR No.) Time Vehs Date Loco (BR No.) Time Vehs 9-8-84 60009 15.08 9 26-8-82 45305 19.37 10 17-8-82 34092 16.17 10 29-8-85 92220 19.37 9 26-7-07 60009 16.17 10 14-8-08 70013 19.40 10 10-7-84 46229 17.16 9 10-8-82 34092+ 20.50 10 31-7-84 34092 17.16 9 From Poppleton stop 26-4-87 60022 17.26 11 3-9-09 70013 21.42 12 25-4-87 60022 17.38 11 4-8-09 45690 21.43 12 2-9-82 30777 17.58 10 2-9-09 70013 22.09 12 24-8-82 45305 18.37 10 22-7-09 45407 22.40 12 11-8-83 92220 18.57 9 Token dropped at Cattal 15-8-85 92220 19.07 9 26-7-84 45407 25.11 9 9-7-85 30777 19.19 9 + stop 8 secs at Cattal token pick up

I have said how Martin Barrett has given much time and effort to putting this information together and I must also thank him very much for finding even more time to type it.

David Houston writes:

A run which took place on 21st September, may be of interest to some members. Running as a 09.22 relief from Belfast Central to Dublin Connolly, but in effect a timing trial, this train was given a booking of 103 minutes for the 113.28 miles - probably the fastest ever for the route. 3 car unit no. 3003 did the honours, taking 101.48 minutes with all PSRs and TSRs strictly adhered to, and with a couple of signal checks, minor in nature, making a net time of about 101 minutes. A commendable performance, and no doubt one to give the timetable planners some food for thought,

Milepost 35½ -195 - October 2014 Tour de France – fifty years on

Alan Varley

Nostalgia is not my favourite mode of emotional functioning, but some anniversaries are too significant to be ignored. It was just fifty years ago, in September 1964, that I made my first railway tour of France: the first French kilometres in a total that has since grown to well over a million.

I was travelling with a college friend, and after visiting Paris we travelled south to Clermont- Ferrand, Le Puy and some other villages in the Massif Central, using trains and buses; then we continued southwards by train through the Cévennes to Nîmes, made a series of short hops to Arles, Avignon and Orange, and headed up the Rhône valley to Vienne and Lyon before returning to Paris via the PLM main line through Dijon. After a day trip to Chartres we took the boat train to Calais and the ferry back to England.

Quite a long and varied tour, then, and one that can be repeated today since all the lines concerned are still more or less open. I therefore planned to retrace the circuit – but not in a purely nostalgic spirit. The replay highlights changes that, for better or worse, have taken place over the last fifty years, so there is obviously a comparative ‘then and now’ aspect to it. But in several cases if one was planning the same trip now one would not in fact use the same route as we did back then. A good example is our return journey from Lyon to Paris, for which the modern equivalent would be a TGV via the high-speed line. This reasoning can be taken a stage further: like most Lyon-Paris expresses at the time, our 1964 train called at Macon, Chalon-sur-Saône and Dijon, thereby offering a service between Lyon and these intermediate points and between them and Paris that is not provided by the Lyon-Paris TGVs. So a full ‘then and now’ comparison could include an inter-sector TGV calling at Lyon and Dijon (and perhaps Chalon or Macon), followed by a Dijon-Paris service. And what about our journey home by boat-train and ferry? Again, one can still travel over the Paris- Amiens-Calais route, but not in a through train. Paris-Calais-Boulogne (in that order) is today covered by a TGV via Lille – and of course there are Eurostars direct from Paris to London!

So the little journey down memory lane could turn into a fairly elaborate exercise. In order to maintain a certain commemorative element I finally decided to retrace most of the original route in a single three-day trip. Here I was accompanied by a fellow-recorder, John Heaton, who sometimes used the faster routes now available over certain sections, playing the modern hare to my fifty-year old tortoise. And I took advantage of other journeys during the year to cover some of the other intermediate possibilities. In this article the logs of the original 1964 journeys feature alongside my runs over the same metals half-a-century later. In the next issue of the magazine I shall present some runs on the alternative routes that now exist and analyse some sections in more detail, notably Paris-Chartres, where services are still structured as before but much slower, and Boulogne-Calais, which on the contrary enjoys much greater speed, frequency and variety today.

For most visitors to France in the 1960s the journey began with a ferry crossing and then, if they were not travelling by car, a train to Paris Nord. The railway enthusiast could scarcely ask for a better introduction to French railways: steam to Amiens with a Chapelon Pacific and then a 25 kV electric BB on to Paris - a showcase of how French engineers had led the way in two fields of technology. Unfortunately, for obscure reasons we flew to Paris – so my first contact with French railways was not a Pacific taking 600 tonnes up the 1 in 125 of Caffiers incline but a 30-year old 3rd-rail EMU on the St-Lazare suburban network which we used to visit some friends in Rueil.

Milepost 35½ -196 - October 2014 This is one journey that is not identically possible today. Rueil-Malmaison is no longer served by trains from St-Lazare as the line has been incorporated into the RER-A, so either one travels from St-Lazare to Nanterre Université (formerly La Folie) and changes platform there to continue with an RER train, or, more sensibly, one starts not from St-Lazare but from nearby Auber on RER line A.

This is what I did on the eve of my three-day excursion; the log is presented in Table 1 alongside the original journey from St-Lazare. Distances reflect the changed situation: the line is now posted from zero at St-Germain, and several of the station building locations have changed. The distances shown for Run 2 correspond more or less to my position in the train. The pre-war EMU in Run 1 just failed to keep time but could be said to have done better than the RER, for counting 30-second station times (and they were all between 27 and 33 seconds) this lost 83 seconds to running time, 20 or so of which might be attributable to a TSR at Nanterre-Université. Interestingly the MS 61 stock of the recent run is older now than the Z5100 was in 1964 since it dates back to the late 1960s, but a very successful renovation in the 1990s gives it a thoroughly modern look and feel. Overall time from Auber to Rueil was 16m 47s, slower than in 1964 from St-Lazare – but in terms of frequency, comfort and convenience there is of course no contest.

Table 1 Paris – Rueil Malmaison Run 1 1551 Paris - St-Germain-en-Laye, 10.9.64, Z5100F class EMU, 2/98/105 AV, pos. unknown Run 2 2012 Boissy – St-Germain, renovated MS 61 stock, 9/444/455, M 7.7.14, AV, 9/9 PK Dist m sec Km/h PK Dist m sec Km/h

00.03 00.00 Paris St-Lazare 0 R 1 0.5 L 20.35 00.00 Auber 0 R 2 2.5 late

01.55 01.52 Pont Cardinet 03 20 27/25 17.72 02.63 Ch-de-Gaulle 02 33

03.20 03.17 Clichy Levallois 05 15 59 03 00

04.59 04.56 Asnières 06 38 52/48/53 13.15 04.57 La Défense 03 51 05.71 05.68 Bécon 07 52 48/56 04 24

06.97 06.94 Les Vallées 09 14 48 11.79 01.36 Nanterre-Préf. 01 45

08.15 08.12 La Garenne 10 38 67 02 14

09.80 09.77 La Folie 11 58 74 10.21 01.58 Nanterre-Univ 02 01

02 28

11.70 11.67 Nanterre 13 25 76 08.64 01.57 Nanterre-Ville 02 13 Max 68

02 41 Max 82

13.68 13.65 Rueil 15 33 1 L 07.00 01.64 Rueil 02 00 4 late

Our first main-line journey took us from Paris Austerlitz to Vierzon – en route for Clermont- Ferrand. This sentence will cause some raising of eyebrows among readers who are familiar with French railway geography for then, as now, the normal route from Paris to Clermont was from the Gare de Lyon over the Bourbonnais line via Nevers. But in the 1960s the service was modelled on the traditional French long-distance pattern: morning and evening fast trains and one (or sometimes more) heavier and slower daytime trains. On the Bourbonnais the fast trains were first class only – not very appropriate for our student budget – and ran very early in the morning and late in the evening – not compatible with the opening times of the youth-hostels we were staying in. And the mid-day train, when it ran (for there were many dated restrictions) started from Paris Austerlitz, was electrically hauled to Vierzon and then went cross-country to join the Bourbonnais line just south of Nevers. When it was not running, the alternative offered by the timetable was the 12.20 from Austerlitz and then two cross-country MUD connections via Montluçon and Gannat.

Although it was far from being a crack rapide the 12.20 from Austerlitz corresponded perfectly to the naïve British recorder’s image of a French main-line train – 18 coaches, with everything from a restaurant car to a clutch of four-wheeled vans, and a diminutive-looking BB at the head of the enormous train. In fact with easy schedules BB 9287 did not really have to exert itself – 111 km/h minimum up the 1 in 125 after Etampes, mid-130s on the

Milepost 35½ -197 - October 2014 racing stretch over the Beauce plain and a coasting approach to Les Aubrais. The average of 133 km/h over the undulations from St-Cyr to Theillay probably required higher outputs and involved maxima that were just over the 140 km/h limit of the stock. Arrival in Vierzon was spot on time – an excellent introduction to express running in France.

Fifty years later Austerlitz is but a shadow of its former self. Its prestige services have been replaced by TGVs from Montparnasse and the recent facelift applied to the forecourt cannot mask the emptiness of the trainsheds. Train formations have changed too: services to Limoges are composed of standard seven-coach Corail Théoz rakes, sometimes doubled – and catering vehicles no longer exist. The train that best corresponded to my 1964 journey was the 12.29 to Montluçon, formed of only six vehicles – just one third of the 1964 load. With a Sybic as motive power the power/weight ratio was over three times higher, and 200 km/h running would be possible.

Table 2 Paris-Vierzon Run 3 Tr 1005 1220 Paris-Limoges, 11/9/64, 18/717/750, BB 9287, AV, pos. unknown Run 4 Tr 3909 1229 Paris-Montluçon, Tu 8/7/14, 6/250/275, BB 26046, AV, 4/7 PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h 00.23 00.00 Paris Austerlitz 0 Run 3 RT 0 Run 4 7.5 late 03.02 02.79 Ivry 04 35 90 05 49 28/15 sigs/130 05.37 05.14 Vitry 05 47 06 34½ 139 09.34 09.11 Choisy-le-Roi 08 02 09 01 90* tsr 12.40 12.17 Villeneuve-le-Roi 09 32 10 37½ 140/136 14.19 13.96 Ablon 10 22 121 11 23½ 139/138 16.04 15.81 Athis Mons 11 23 121 12 12½ 139/138 19.04 18.81 Juvisy 12 57 13 30 139 21.78 21.55 Savigny 14 15 117 14 41 139 23.54 23.31 Epinay 116 15 28 139 28.05 27.82 St-Michel 17 24 124 17 24½ 139 31.34 31.11 Brétigny 19 03 122 18 52½ 124 33.71 33.48 OB 131 20 11 96* tsr 39.70 39.47 Bourray 23 03 130 22 59 139/138 45.91 45.68 Chamarande 26 01 128/130 25 40½ 139/138 48.69 48.46 Etrechy /116 26 53 139/138 55.86 55.63 Etampes 30 49 122 30 10 125 63.98 63.75 OB 111 33 29½ 158 66.20 75.97 Guillerval 36 15 131 34 20 157 69.79 69.56 Monnerville 37 49 137/138 35 32½ 196/197 74.42 74.19 Angerville 39 52 137/138/133 36 59 196/197 80.94 80.71 Boisseaux 42 45 136/134 38 58½ 196/197 88.33 88.10 Toury 46 03 139/134 41 26 155* 94.45 94.22 Château-Gaillard 48 44 136/138 43 27½ 197 101.53 101.30 Artenay 51 54 133 45 37 197 107.60 107.37 Chevilly 54 43 130 47 29½ 197 112.08 111.85 Cercottes 56 52 126/128 49 01½ 150*/58*/59 118.93 118.70 Les Aubrais 61 52 1 early 53 50 7.5 late 00.00 65 33 ½ early 55 51 7.5 late 124.00 03.37 Loire Via N /131 03 51 117/116/120 133.13 12.50 St-Cyr 09 16 129/135/132/140 07 12 197/196/198 144.11 23.48 La Ferté 13 41 135/131/135 10 40½ 154* 152.82 32.19 Vouzon 18 15 129/127/143 13 33 197/196 159.93 39.30 Lamotte 21 32 141/132/141 15 44 197/196/194 166.59 45.96 Nouan 24 27 140/132/141/138 17 47½ 199/196/198 178.66 58.03 Salbris 29 49 140/132/136 21 30 196/197 191.01 70.38 Theillay 35 18 133 25 22 170*/157*/160 195.46 74.83 Tunnel N 27 03 157 198.97 78.34 UB Motorway 28 31½ 120* 201.18 80.55 Vierzon 42 18 RT 30 26 2 late

Milepost 35½ -198 - October 2014 The schedule did not demand such speeds, but the late arrival of the loco led to a late start and an immediate signal check. A couple of TSRs interrupted the 140 km/h stages and the driver made no use of the short 150 stretches, but once on the plain we ran at 196-197 km/h. The really impressive running occurred, though, after the Les Aubrais stop: following the usual restricted start we sprinted to 197 km/h, steadily maintained uphill and down thanks to the high power/weight ratio and cruise control – a striking difference to the 127-143 km/h speed range of the 1964 run. With a smart approach to Vierzon we achieved a fastest time at an excellent average of 158.8 km/h. These two runs are compared in Table 2: here, as in subsequent tables, distances are for the 2014 conditions/positions.

Montluçon is reached by a line branching southwards by means of a triangular junction off the cross-country Vierzon-Saincaize route a little way short of Bourges. In 1964 our MUD connection took the western curve of the triangle to run directly to Montluçon, whereas in 2014 my Paris-Montluçon train also served Bourges with electric traction through to that point following electrification of the cross-country route. Consequently, with something like seven minutes of recovery time between Vierzon and Bourges and no less than 17 minutes allowed for an engine change with reversal there, the modern train takes over half an hour longer to reach Montluçon, 123 minutes from Vierzon against 87. In fact the Sybic continued at full speed to Bourges to arrive five minutes early (14½ minutes gained to net schedule from Paris) while the diesel that took over displayed much less energy and failed to recover all of the time lost to over-long station stops. The 1964 run, with an X 2400 railcar (680 HP) and two trailers, was on time throughout.

Table 3 Vierzon – (Bourges) – Montlucon Run 5 Tr 3909 1229 Paris-Montluçon, Tu 8/7/14, 6/250/275, BB 26046, AV, 4/7 Run 6 Idem, 6/250/265, BB 67610, 5/7 Run 7 Tr 2085 1417 Vierzon-Montluçon, 11.9.64, 3/78/90, X 24XX, AV, position unknown PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h 201.18 00.00 Vierzon 0 Run 5 1.5 late 0 Run 7 1 late 204.80 03.62 Vierzon Forges 03 41 121/117 03 57 105 211.04 09.86 Foëcy 06 17 159 07 19 117/119/116 216.34 15.16 Méhun 08 17 159/160 10 02 121/117 223.95 22.77 Marmagne 11 09½ 155 13 57 120 226.00 24.82 PK Bif Pont Vert 11 59 144 15 27 58* 232.00 30.82 PK 232 15 17 56*XL 232.80 32.62 Bourges 16 29 5 early 00.00 Run 6 1 late 232.00 00.80 PK 232 01 26½ 53/52/80 226.82 05.88 Jct South 06 41½ 61 229.68 08.74 La Chapelle 08 56½ 90/130 18 04 108/112 239.12 18.18 St-Florent 14 44 1.5 late 24 12 RT 00.00 15 34 1.5 late 25 42 1½ late 246.09 06.97 Luméry 05 28 106/99/108 4 59 114/98/104 255.80 16.68 Chateauneuf 12 10 1.5 late 10 58 97/102 00.00 30 49 2.5 late 264.07 08.27 Brigny 05 57½ 111/98/103 16 05 93/111 270.13 14.33 La Celle 09 22½ 111/103/108 19 38 101/112 277.91 22.11 St-Amand 15 37 1 late 25 28 RT 00.00 17 34 2 late 26 32 RT 287.67 09.76 Ainay 07 51½ 108/101/110 07 04 110/103/106 293.53 15.62 Urcay 11 06½ 105/119 10 40 77*/101 304.67 26.76 Vallon 17 58 1 late 18 12 98105/98 00.00 20 08 2 late 312.90 08.23 Magnette 05 42 121/118 23 18 100/105/102 318.74 14.07 Les Trillers 08 49½ 105/121 26 50 105/62*tsr 326.06 21.39 La Ville Gozet 13 02½ 62* 31 50 102 327.55 22.88 Montluçon 16 02 1½ late 33 58 RT

Milepost 35½ -199 - October 2014

Table 4 Clermont-Ferrand – Nîmes Run 8 Tr 1111 0900 Paris-Nîmes, 12/9/64, 9/334/360, BB 67013/67031, AV, pos. unknown Run 9 Tr LM Le Cévenol, Clermont-Ferrand – Nîmes, 14.9.64, 5/161/165, X 28XX+X 42XX, AV, pos ? Run 10 Tr 15957 1249 Clermont-Ferrand – Nîmes, W 9.7.14, 3/125/130, BB 67616, AV/JHe, 4/4 PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h 419.30 00.00 Clermont-Ferrand 0 Run 8 3 late 0 R 10 RT 422.85 03.55 La Pardieu /101 04 31 0.5 late 00.00 05 09 RT 429.44 06.59 La Cendre 08 01 80*/85 05 06½ 128/83*/93 437.21 14.37 Vic-le Comte 13 25 32*tsr/72/63/70 09 44 74*/max 81 454.44 31.59 Issoire 30 29 1.5 late 23 37 1 late 00.00 32 56 3 late 24 41 1 late 463.12 08.68 Le Breuil 07 15 93/31*tsr/83 05 48 125/82*/88 467.23 12.79 Le Saut-du-Loup 11 15 72/72 08 40½ 77/86/27*tsr/51 472.89 18.45 Brassac 16 27 3.5 late 13 54 2 late 00.00 17 27 3.5 late 14 56 2 late 478.73 05.84 Arvant 06 19 Max 75/2.5 late 05 01 Max 104/1 late 00.00 10 21 5.5 late 06 09 1 late 489.08 10.75 Brioude 09 26 Max 102/3 late 08 03 Max 124/RT 00.00 14 01 6.5 late 09 36 1.5 late 507.01 17.93 Paulhaguet 16 01 Max 51/6.5 late 14 05 88/73/89 00.00 17 10 7 late 79/87/70 512.96 05.95 St-Georges 06 07 Max 74/tsr/5 late 18 38 75/95/83*94 520.52 13.51 Langeac Run 9 25 01 0.5 late 00.00 00 00 8.5 late 26 24 1 late 526.37 05.85 Chantenges 05 07 85/81 05 52 77/56/71/25* 533.59 13.07 Pradès 10 47 71* 14 11 65/70/22* 544.52 24.00 Monistrol 19 07 80/72/82 35 35 36/42/38 554.33 33.81 Alleyras 26 33 70/80/67/82/70 40 50½ 32-42 574.67 54.15 Jonchères 42 22 78/71/76 72 10 33/77 587.05 66.53 Langogne 53 41 6 late 86 31 1.5 late 00.00 55 41 6 late 88 38 2.5 late 599.25 12.20 Luc 10 20 73-76 11 33½ 77/50/74 606.61 19.56 La Bastide 16 42 5 late 18 44 2.5 late 00.00 21 37 4.5 late 22 29 2 late 615.97 09.36 Pervenchères 09 01 80/stop 0 18/50 10 44½ 75/60*/75/54*/75 626.76 20.15 Villefort 18 54 5.5 late 20 07 1 late 00.00 20 29 6 late 21 35 1.5 late 633.39 06.63 Concoules 05 50 78-82 06 31½ 76/65/74 639.76 13.00 Genolhac 11 05 63/82 12 20 2 late 00.00 13 02 1.5 late 649.05 09.29 Chamborigaud 17 08 60*/85 09 24½ 56/31*/56/51/75 660.55 20.79 Grand’Combe 28 04 4 late 24 31 1.5 late 00.00 29 14 4.5 late 27 26 1 late 674.11 13.56 Alès 12 56 Max 73/3.5 late 15 18 Max 60/1.5 late 00.00 15 39 2 late 16 40 2 late 683.91 09.80 Mas des Gardes 06 59 107 06 47 120/107*118 693.14 19.03 Boucoiran 12 10 104 11 38 113116/100* 698.81 24.70 St-Géniès 15 31 99/110/99 14 46 115113/117 713.12 29.01 Mas de Ponge 24 00 111 21 15½ 114/118 721.16 37.05 Nimes P 3 30 07 Stop/reverse 24.74 31 32 S stop 01 10 721.34 37.23 Flyover S (26.07) 31 00½ 27.15 38.31 Nîmes 35 57 RT 32 54 RT

The route from Montluçon to Clermont-Ferrand passes by way of Commentry and Gannat, where it joins the old line between St-Germain-des-Fossés and Riom that avoids Vichy and Randan summit. In 1964 this was very much a secondary line as far as Gannat, limited to 80

Milepost 35½ -200 - October 2014 km/h or less throughout. With five stops the 16.02 from Montluçon then took 77 minutes to reach Gannat, after which it was booked to Riom in 19 minutes and Clermont in 12 – the former a sharp timing at 120 km/h max. Our X 2400 railcar, with one 17-tonne trailer, was on time throughout, but only by dint of leaving Gannat a minute early. Today, thanks to the Auvergne regional authority, Commentry benefits from a quite frequent service to Clermont, with some trains extended to/from Montluçon. X-TER single-unit railcars seem to be the standard stock, and it was X 73766 that did the honours on my 2014 trip. With 105 km/h now possible before Commentry we reached that station in 9m 00s, as booked, as against 13m 17s at 50/40 km/h in 1964, then on 95/80 km/h limits to Lapeyrouse we took 14m 33s (sched. 14) instead of 17m 25s. The comparison then becomes difficult as the recent run made only one stop instead of three between Lapeyrouse and Gannat, but three between there and Riom where the 1964 run was non-stop. On two of these stretches, and onwards to Clermont, the X 73XXX sprinted up to 140 km/h, reaching 90 or just over in 60 seconds – a performance quite beyond the X 2400 with its mechanical transmission. A time of 3m 35s for the 5.04 km from Aubiat to Pontmort was noteworthy. Although we were on time at Riom the final arrival was two minutes late: the schedule simply does not allow for the obligatory crawl into a bay platform at Clermont-Ferrand.

In 1964 I left Paris at 12.20 for a 17.52 arrival in Clermont; in 2014 that had become 12.29 for 18.40 (booked 18.38). But the 1964 timetable offered quite smart connections: nine minutes in Vierzon and 18 in Montluçon, whereas this year I spent 57 minutes in Montluçon – not to mention the 17-minute booked stop in Bourges (in fact 23 minutes). Regional responsibility for local services has led to line enhancements and improved services, as between Commentry and Clermont-Ferrand, but with a loss of coordination: Vierzon and Bourges belong to one local system, Montluçon and Clermont to another. Finally I noted in 1964 that the diesel railcars we rode in were crowded, noisy, uncomfortable and hot: here certainly there have been some positive changes!

From Clermont-Ferrand we went to Le Puy-en-Velay, by way of the branch that leaves the Clermont-Nîmes line at St-Georges-d’Aurac. There is still a regular service over this branch today – except in July 2014, when major engineering work led to trains being replaced by buses. Aware of this, I took advantage of a visit to Lyon in June to go to Clermont-Ferrand for the 09.49 to Le Puy. But on arrival in Clermont the night before I found the station papered with announcements of a local strike the following day and I had to abandon the excursion. This too is part of the rail-traveller’s lot in France! I was impressed in 1964 by the ability of the 600 HP RGP unit on the outward journey and the 825 HP X 2800 on the way back to maintain the line limit of 80 km/h up 1 in 50 gradients: today with limits of between 85 and 75 km/h the X 73500s run to very similar timings.

In 1964 there was an overnight train from Paris to Nîmes and two or three day services from Clermont, one a through train from Paris and another the ‘Cévenol’ with its panoramic railcar, going through to Marseille. We took the 09.00 from Paris as far as St-Georges and then, a couple of days later, the ‘Cévenol’ from Langeac to Nîmes. Today there are just two through trains, a regional DMU early in the morning and the modern ‘Cévenol’, both taking a little over five hours as against the 4h 32m of the 1960s ‘Cévenol’. The recommended itinerary between Clermont and Nîmes in 2014 is the very circuitous and more expensive journey across to Lyon and thence by TGV, offering a best time of 3h 49m. The different regional councils at the ends of the route sponsor local services, to Le Puy via St-Georges in the north, and to Mende via La Bastide in the south. There is thus a new suburban station south of Clermont-Ferrand and some line speed improvements as far as Brioude (railhead for bus connections into the Massif Central), and at the other end of the line a new direct connection at Nîmes avoiding the former reversal into the station there. Over the central portion, though, investment seems to have been abandoned: between Langeac and Langogne there is now a 35 kilometre section limited to 40 km/h. Similarly the ‘Cévenol’ itself seems neglected. It is one of the trains SNCF threatened to withdraw as being uneconomical

Milepost 35½ -201 - October 2014 and is now paid to operate in the name of ‘territorial equilibrium’ (i.e. not depriving certain areas of their rail service). But SNCF thus has no incentive to develop traffic, and the ‘Cévenol’ is now a simple three or four-coach Corail rake – a far cry from the 1960s when it ran with a dedicated panoramic railcar, or the 1980s when through coaches from Paris offered tourist commentary and other attractions during the season.

Table 4 presents a very schematic comparison between our 1964 trains and the run timed by John Heaton and I in 2014 – the running does not justify any more detail, but the line is well worth visiting for its scenery – which passengers have ample leisure to admire! Both trains had generous allowances over the final stage and arrived in Nîmes on time, in 1964 following a stop and reversal at Nîmes Courbessac, in 2014 via the new flyover, but with a brief signal stop.

Table 5 Arles – Valence Run 11a,b Tr 54 0915 Marseille-Paris, 17 then 18/9/64, 19/747/790, 2-D-2 91XX, AV, pos. ? Run 12 Tr 120 Marseille-Lyon, 18.9.64, 14/523/560, BB 9291, AV, pos ? Run 13 Tr 17706, 0706 Marseille-Lyon, Th 10.7.14, 6/250/255, BB 22351 (propelling), AV/JHe, 5/7 PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h 776.38 00.00 Arles 0 R 11a 4 late 0 Run13 3.5 late 771.61 04.77 Ex LC 05 33 90 03 30 160/159 768.55 07.83 Ségonnaux 07 25 106 04 35½ 160/154 763.64 12.74 Tarascon Box 09 59 123 06 30 159/161/158 753.69 22.21 Graveson 14 16 137/142 10 05 159/158 747.44 28.46 Barbentane 16 57 141 12 27½ 157/158 741.36 34.54 Avignon 21 20 2.5 late 16 00 1.5 late 00.00 0 R 11b RT 18 14 0.5 late 737.00 04.36 PK 737 06 08 tsr/82/100/38*tsr 03 06 160 731.41 09.95 Sorgues 11 47 70 06 34½ 36*tsr/158 727.20 14.16 Bédarrides 14 48 112 09 02½ 156/159 721.69 19.67 Courthézon 17 27 136/140 11 09 157/153/160 713.25 28.11 Orange 21 44 2.5 late 15 05 1.5 late 00.00 0 Run12 1 late 16 56 1.5 late 706.13 07.12 Piolenc 06 17 140.119 03 37½ 161/151/127/141 698.14 15.11 Mondragon 10 10 122 07 12½ 127 694.42 18.83 Bollène 12 31 0.5 late 09 48 0.5 late 00.00 13 45 1 late 10 44 0.5 late 690.98 03.44 La Palud 03 39 02 11 150/145 682.86 11.56 Pierrelatte 08 22 0.5 early 07 10 0.5 late 00.00 10 51 1 late 08 55 RT 675.07 07.79 Donzère 05 47 132/124 04 49½ 150/122/115 670.37 12.49 Chateauneuf 08 09 121 07 09 127/141 661.31 21.55 Montélimar 15 00 2 early 12 10 0.5 early 00.00 17 58 RT 15 00 RT 650.68 10.63 La Coucourde 06 47 142/136 05 06½ 161/156/159 644.36 16.95 Saulce 09 41 128 07 29 160/153 637.32 23.99 Loriol 13 57 74 10 11 159/154 634.33 26.98 Livron 17 27 0.5 late 11 19½ 156/160 00.00 18 36 0.5 late 626.50 07.86 Etoile 05 33 133 14 20½ 148 622.55 11.81 Portes 07 26 103 16 04 125 617.01 17.32 Valence 12 14 RT 20 23 0.5 early

In both cases our journey continued to Arles on board a Bordeaux-Marseille train: 24 hours later in 1964, with some congestion in the station as the ‘Cévenol’ shunted in eight minutes late and prepared to reverse again for its final leg to Marseille, while the 09.40 from Bordeaux dropped six of its 19 coaches - an Avignon portion - and continued on its way nine minutes late with BB 9288 on 13/570. After a slow start it reached just over 130 km/h before

Milepost 35½ -202 - October 2014 slowing to 64 on the junction at Tarascon and touching 130 again before a checked approach to Arles in 26m 4s on a schedule of 28 minutes. In 2014 this was still a complicated piece of railway but for different reasons: no more reversals and portion working but far more traffic. There had been a signal failure in Montpellier so a long freight, a local to Avignon, a TGV to Lille and the 13.31 Bordeaux-Marseille were bunched together through Nîmes between 18.55 and 19.10. The Bordeaux-Marseille had a double Téoz formation, 14/620 with BB 22233, and left 36 minutes late at 19.11. Signals kept us between 27 and 40 km/h for the first five minutes, then we touched 160 km/h either side of 150 on the 155 curve after Jonchières, slowed to 61 km/h for Tarascon and did no more than 138 km/h on the main line before another signal check in to Arles. So this run was slower than in 1964 – 28m 33s on a schedule of 23 minutes.

In 1964, after a couple of days in Arles, we travelled north to Avignon and then Orange on successive days with train No. 54, the 09.15 Marseille-Paris rapide. This was another massive load – 19 coaches – headed on both days by a 2-D-2, No. 9116 from Arles to Avignon, No. 9126 the next day to Orange. These locos were then not old – built in 1950 – but had already been rendered obsolete by the much lighter and more powerful BB 9200s. After a brief tour of Orange we continued to Vienne on the afternoon Marseille-Lyon express – in fact a semi-fast making much the same stops as the regional semi-fast that John and I took throughout from Arles to Lyon in 2014. The difference was that in 1964 the load was 14/560, as against 6/255 50 years later, and schedules were correspondingly generous.

Both the 2-D-2s ground their way slowly up to their 140 km/h maximum, developing a bit over 3,000 EDHP in the process. Notes made at the time show that I was more struck by the performance of the BB on the semi-fast; accelerations were slow up to 80 km/h but I noted that from 80 to 130 km/h or so the performance was impressive. Then as now there was little opportunity of timing repeated accelerations with a 560-tonne train in the UK! These few minutes of full power in fact represented practically all the performance interest as, with generous schedules to play with, the driver had no need to maintain line speed but rather made long coasting approaches to most of the stops.

Acceleration was also the name of the game 50 years later, but with a light load, slightly more adhesion weight and more refined power control systems BB 22351 was able to apply impressive tractive effort practically from the start. Departures from Arles and Avignon are both hampered by turnouts, and additionally from Arles, after a prolonged station stop, we had to observe a 30 km/h restriction to the signal at the platform end: however the finish in Avignon was fast, helped perhaps by a shifting of the restriction on the approach to the station, so the time was an RPS fastest. From Orange the engine really showed what she could do, with 93 km/h in 60 seconds and 160 in two minutes. The start from Bollène was similar, up to 150 km/h, when we eased, but 145 km/h had been reached in 95 seconds. After that, drizzle set in and the starts were less exuberant.

On both runs schedules were easier and running more relaxed after Valence. BB 9291 touched 142 km/h on its way to Tain L’Hermitage, reached in 11m 28s; BB 22351 took 10m 00s here, exactly as scheduled, with a maximum of 149 km/h. The stopping patterns were then different: the 1964 train was scheduled from Valence to Vienne in 61 minutes with three stops, while in 2014, with two stops, the allowance was only 43 minutes. BB 22351 covered the final stage to Lyon Part-Dieu in 20m 50s, as scheduled, with a couple of slight checks and easy running. In 1964 we took an early-morning local train for this stretch, with a Z 71XX EMU – in fact a 1,250 HP railcar towing three lightweight trailers, 140 tonnes gross. With one stop and 125-126 km/h maxima the journey (to Lyon Perrache) took 22m 55s.

At the time I saw the next stage as the highlight of my 1964 tour, in railway terms: rapide number 16, 06.03 Marseille-Paris, from Lyon to Paris. True, this was not the ‘Mistral’, already authorized to run at 150 km/h, but it was nevertheless booked from Dijon to Paris at an

Milepost 35½ -203 - October 2014 average of a shade under 120 km/h, and the overall schedule from Lyon, with three stops and extra time for engineering work on the first stage, was 4h 29m. The recovery allowance for the relaying slack was, in fact, insufficient but we picked up the lost time by Dijon. We left there just 3½ minutes behind a 2-D-2 on a packed 17-coach train from Grenoble, and in heavy rain, so the start of the climb to Blaisy was a slow and slippery business, and there was apparently some restraint on speed between Les Laumes and Tonnerre. But from there to Moret-les-Sablons we averaged 140.4 km/h – fractionally over the stock limit – for 130 km on end. This matched similar averages on the earlier stages: 140.0 from Trévoux to Romanèche (30 km), 140.5 from Sénozan to Varennes (39 km) and 139.5 for 41 km from Chagny to Gevrey-Chambertin. After Melun there was a marked easing and even a slight signal check, but we were able to run very slowly into Paris for a comfortable RT arrival.

Table 6 Lyon – Dijon Run 14 Tr 16 0603 Marseille-Paris, 19/9/64, 17/693/750, BB 9226, AV, pos. unknown Run 15 Tr 17758, 1116 Lyon-Paris, Th 10.7.14, 7/293/300, BB 7246 propelling, AV, 2/8 PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h 510.92 00.00 Lyon Perrache 0 Run 14 RT Run 15 506.39 04.63 Lyon Vaise 05 17 112/127 507.49 00.00 Lyon Part-Dieu 00 0 2 late 499.49 08.00 Collonges (11.43) 09 12 80*/26*tsr 07 31½ 92 496.40 11.09 Couzon 14 39 30 tsr 09 09 133/130/132 493.64 13.85 Villevert 18 57 88 10 31 130 490.76 16.73 St-Germain 20 35 112 12 59 3 late 00.00 14 43 2.5 late 485.77 04.99 Trévoux 23 01 144/140 03 33 150/159/150 481.48 09.28 Anse 24 52 142 04 57 153/161 476.98 13.78 Villefranche 26 45 140142/137 08 11 1.5 late 00.00 09 30 1 late 468.24 08.74 St-Georges 30 30 142/136 04 35 160/130/125/128 462.66 14.32 Belleville 32 54 138/141 08 19 0.5 late 00.00 09 43 0.5 late 455.44 07.22 Romanèche 36 01 140 03 49½ 162/161 450.71 11.95 Pontanevaux 38 06 132*/140 05 36 162 446.83 15.83 Crèches 39 50 133/134 07 06½ 149 439.74 22.92 Macon 44 16 11 34 0.5 late 00.00 45 42 4.5 late 13 19 RT 429.17 10.57 Sénozan 06 37 143/141/145 05 10 152/151 422.24 17.50 Fleurville 09 35 142/141 07 55½ 152/151 417.46 22.28 Uchizy 11 37 142/141/143 09 44½ 161/97*tsr/154 407.75 29.99 Tournus 15 44 140/137 15 05 RT 00.00 16 39 0.5 late 398.54 09.21 Sennecey 19 44 142/140/143 04 31½ 161/160/161 390.38 17.37 Varennes 23 11 140 07 45½ 141 382.12 25.63 Chalon-s-Saône 28 10 3 late 12 45 0.5 early 00.00 29 22 3 late 16 29 RT 372.75 09.37 Fontaines 06 48 140 05 18½ Sigs/161 369.33 12.79 Rully 08 20 137 06 35½ 157 366.23 15.89 Chagny 09 38 140/143 08 32 1.5 late 00.00 10 20 1.5 late 358.40 07.83 Meursault 12 58 141/144/140 04 01½ 161/160/161 351.10 15.13 Beaune 16 03 143/140 07 51 1.5 late 00.00 09 48 1.5 late 346.36 04.74 Serrigny 18 05 145 02 59 161/160 342.59 08.51 Corgoloin 19 41 140 04 23 162/160 336.65 14.45 Nuits-St-Georges 22 18 133 06 36 161 331.50 19.60 Vougeot 24 36 138/143 08 31½ 161 325.36 25.74 Gevrey-Ch 27 13 142 10 49 160/27*sigs 314.07 37.03 Dijon 33 42 RT 18 12 1.5 late

Milepost 35½ -204 - October 2014 Table 7 Dijon – Paris PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h 314.07 00.00 Dijon 0 Run 14 1.5 late 0 Run 15 RT 309.80 04.27 Plombières 06 19 62 slipping 05 55 116/121/57*XL 305.43 08.64 Velars 09 34 95 09 11 100/143 299.46 14.61 Lantenay 13 14 97/104 11 53½ 130 295.29 18.78 Malain 15 47 102/104 14 21½ S st 14 41-17 30 292.51 21.56 Blaisy Tunn S 17 34 102 20 07½ 126 288.93 25.14 Blaisy Bas 20 03 106/142 22 05 128/141 278.40 35.67 Verrey 24 27 137/145 26 18½ 138/143 271.17 42.90 Thenissey 27 31 142 29 24 140 264.58 49.49 Darcey 30 20 137/132 32 15 133 256.75 57.32 Les Laumes 33 49 140 36 32 0.5 early 00.00 38 32 0.5 late 248.07 08.68 Fain 37 39 134/135 04 54½ 162/158/159 242.86 13.89 Montbard 40 00 127/132 07 31 RT 00.00 08 46 RT 232.86 10.00 Aisy 44 42 129/134 05 15 154/150/157/150 224.76 18.10 Nuits 48 29 128/135 08 26 155/150/159 218.56 24.30 Ancy 51 19 129/132/127 10 52 155/151/157 210.16 32.70 Lézinnes 55 12 129 14 08 152156 204.06 38.80 Tanlay 57 58 137/140/136 16 31 154/161 196.09 46.77 Tonnerre 61 26 141/137 20 10 0.5 late 00.00 21 39 1 late 183.73 12.36 Flogny 66 50 141/143 05 11 161/159/162 172.20 23.89 St-Florentin 71 40 141/143/139 11 14 RT 00.00 12 30 0.5 late 163.50 08.70 Briénon 75 24 142/144/141 04 22 160/161 154.75 17.45 Laroche-M 79 02 143/140/143 08 21 RT 00.00 11 11 0.5 late 145.38 09.37 Joigny 83 02 141/138 05 37 Max 161/RT 00.00 06 52 0.5late 140.74 04.64 Cézy 85 04 140/142 02 59 160/161 134.64 10.74 St-Julien 87 37 137/135/145 05 16½ 158/161/158 126.06 19.32 Villeneuve 90 57 140/142/140 08 30 161/158 120.20 25.18 Etigny 93 49 144/140 10 42 160 112.50 32.88 Sens 97 01 142/144 14 18 0.5 early 00.00 15 49 RT 101.32 11.18 Pont-s-Yonne 101 52 138143 05 38 161/160/161 94.02 18.48 Champigny 104 58 140/138 08 22 158 89.20 23.30 Villeneuve 107 03 140/138/142 11 42½ 33*tsr/146 78.63 33.87 Montereau 111 34 141/137/140 18 33½ 24*sigs/XL/161 66.78 45.82 Moret-les-S 116 41 138 25 56 149/143 63.34 49.16 Thoméry 118 16 129/142 27 21½ 154 58.94 53.56 Fontainebleau 120 12 137/131 29 00½ 161/159/162 50.90 61.60 Bois-le-Roi 123 49 137/142 32 02 160/161 44.08 68.42 Melun 126 45 129/116 34 40½ 148 37.69 74.81 Cesson 129 53 121/117 37 05 160/162/159 30.46 82.04 Lieusaint 133 37 122/124 39 47 160/159/162 25.90 86.60 Combs-la-Ville 135 56 121 41 33 154 17.45 95.05 Montgeron 140 17 */64*sigs 45 06 132* 14.39 98.77 Villeneuve-St-G 142 58 80 47 09 107*/129 06.23 106.93 Maisons-Alfort 148 08 108 51 31½ 78*/80/22*/29 02.16 111.00 Bercy-Ceinture 150 37 76* 00.85 112.31 Paris Bercy 58 37 1 late 00.20 112.96 Paris G de Lyon 156 06 RT

Averages such as these, over such long distances, were what impressed me most at the time. And on this line they are now impossible, except, perhaps, on a late-running sleeper. In

Milepost 35½ -205 - October 2014 2014 I took the only train advertised as making the full Lyon-Paris run via Dijon, but since it has a 16-minute layover there it is better regarded as two separate trains. With 16 stops in all, it takes 5h 6m end-to-end, or 4h 26m running time – actually only 1 minute more than the running time of train 16 in 1964. 160 km/h maximum permitted speed (MPS), and a power/weight ratio in excess of 15 HP/tonne (as against 6) make this possible. Finally as in 1964 we spent quite a bit of time at or just over line speed (a more unusual occurrence now than then) with occasional maxima of 162 km/h. In the early stages, the driver seemed to have some problems with the controls of the driving trailer; the first few accelerations ended with power surging off and a severe speed drop. But after Belleville things became smoother, and in view of the damp weather and slightly heavier load some of the starts were almost as good as those of the previous run: 84 km/h in 60 seconds from Macon, for example. This driver’s stops, though, were very slow: into Belleville the brakes came off at 66 km/h a kilometer away from the station! After Dijon the situation was reversed – slower starts, only once better than 60 km/h in 60 seconds, but excellent stops. As in 1964 we made a slow exit from Dijon under signals, and there was then a stop, apparently booked as part of single-line working, before Blaisy tunnel. We ran easily in places to avoid early arrivals, but posted some excellent start-stop averages just the same: 139.1 km/h from Montbard to Tonnerre despite some easings and, more notably in view of the shorter distance, 138.0 km/h from Joigny to Sens. Approaching Montereau we were on the slow line after more track work so had to make a severe slowing to cross back to the direct route via Moret, and with the usual crawl into Paris Bercy we were finally a minute late. A more entertaining run than I had expected, and a worthy pendant, in a totally different style, to that of 50 years earlier.

The next item on our 1964 itinerary was a day trip to Chartres. There were some semi-fasts through to Le Mans that made only one or two stops on the way to Chartres and did the journey in under an hour, but we took the standard stopping trains both ways, 64 minutes with eight stops. I was not particularly impressed by the running at the time – the trains were limited to 120 km/h - but I did note fast accelerations, regularly up to 110-115 km/h in 90 seconds on level track. In fact with hindsight these were some of the most interesting trains I timed, since their present-day equivalents with the same stopping pattern take 12 minutes longer. In the 2014 timetable it is only the four-stop trains and a handful with just one or two stops that get below the eight-stop times of 1964; no timings are faster than one hour. I shall look in more detail at the surprising decline in the running times of this service in the second part of this article.

And so we come to the last stage – and another of the highlights – of the 1964 tour: the boat train to Calais. This was another eclectic formation, with coaches off the ‘Direct Orient’ that had come round the Ceinture from the Gare de Lyon. With a little less than 600 tonnes and a 140 km/h limit, the 1 in 200 gradients of this line were totally effaced by BB 16011 which cruised at just over the limit uphill and down but arrived slightly late after a signal stop. Six minutes were allowed for the loco change in Amiens; we took 7m 26s so the new engine, an E-class Pacific – in fact a PO design of 1920, converted by Chapelon around 1934 – left Amiens 3½ late and needed to make a 60 mph run to Boulogne. The start was taken very easily but once into its stride the loco was maintaining almost 120 km/h – the speed limit on this section – very steadily, with an average of 116.1 km/h over the 68 km from Longpré to Etaples. So we were able to go very gently over Dannes-Camiers summit and coast part of the way down the other side to arrive spot on time in Boulogne – an impressive performance.

The recent run was again a total contrast. For timetabling reasons I made the trip to Boulogne/ Calais just before the southern circuit so it was on 7 July that I went to the Gare du Nord for train 1009. This was duly announced on the departure screens – but was absent from the reservation computer, appearing neither on the self-service screens nor the

Milepost 35½ -206 - October 2014 Table 8 Paris – Amiens Run 16 Tr 9 0810 Paris-Calais, 22/9/64, 13/540/595, BB 16011, AV, pos. unknown Run 17 Tr 2009, 1004 Paris-Boulogne, M 7.7.14, 9/378/395, BB 22342, AV, 10/10 PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h 00.07 00.00 Paris Nord 0 Run 16 0.5 late Run 17 11.5 late 06.13 06.06 St-Denis 05 43 120 05 38 116/137/126 10.11 10.04 Pierrefitte 07 38 131 07 33½ 129 14.76 14.69 Villiers-le-Bel 09 48 137/134/142 09 27 158/160/158 23.55 23.48 Louvres 13 38 140 12 45½ 160/161/155 29.65 29.58 Survilliers 16 15 140 15 04 159/160/26*sigs 40.94 40.87 Chantilly 21 09 137/139 21 46 158/159/112* 50.25 50.18 Creil 25 48 */28 tsr 25 38½ 117 57.72 57.65 Liaucourt 32 03 137/142/140 28 53½ 160/159 65.10 65.03 Clermont 35 10 142 31 39½ 160/150 72.73 72.66 Avréchy 38 25 141 34 34½ 157/160/92* 79.53 79.46 St-Just 41 18 143 37 43½ 97/161/159 87.38 87.31 Gannes 44 38 142 41 17 160/157/161 94.85 94.78 Breteuil 47 51 141/140 44 06 160/161/156 104.19 104.12 La Faloise 51 48 142 47 37½ 160 111.07 111.00 Ailly 54 44 142 50 12 160 122.01 121.94 Boves 59 26 137 54 24 121* 125.77 125.70 Longueau 63 20 Sig stop 00 17 56 56 9.5 late 00.00 63 37 59 28 10 late/114/sigs 130.35 04.58 Amiens 68 12 1 late 09 29 14.5 late

Table 9 Amiens – Boulogne Run 18 Tr 9 0810 Paris-Calais, 22/9/64, 13/540/595, 2-3-1 E3, AV, pos. ? Run 19 Tr 2009, 1004 Paris-Boulogne, M 7.7.14, 9/378/390, BB 67481, AV, 10/10 PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h 130.35 00.00 Amiens 0 Run 18 3.5 late Run 19 15.5 late 132.61 02.26 St-Roch 05 42 60 04 21½ 77 140.01 09.66 Ailly 11 50 103 08 44½ 127 144.67 14.32 Picquigny 14 33 108 10 51 135 151.67 21.32 Hangest 18 25 110 13 54 141/136 157.95 27.60 Longpré 21 45 116 16 37½ 139/140/138 163.00 32.65 Fontaine 24 19 118/120 18 48 139 166.74 36.39 Pont-Rémy 26 12 119 20 24½ 140/141 175.30 44.95 Abbeville 30 37 119 24 37 16 late 00.00 27 37 17 late 183.45 08.15 Port-le-Grand 34 54 115/113 06 12 115/123 189.03 13.73 Noyelles 37 47 117 09 35 17 late 00.00 11 06 17.5 late 194.53 05.50 Ponthoile 40 27 116 04 29 106/117 198.90 09.87 Rue 42 55 116 07 27 16.5 late 00.00 08 57 17 late 204.09 05.19 Quend 45 32 119 04 28½ 106 209.00 10.10 Conchil-le-T 48 00 120/108 07 03½ 123/124 214.85 15.95 Rang 51 14 110 10 23 16.5 late 00.00 12 07 17.5 late 220.22 05.37 St-Jossé 53 56 119/117/120 04 29 106/115 226.24 11.39 Etaples 57 02 114 08 25 16 late 00.00 11 10 16.5 late 233.67 07.43 Dannes 61 13 97/60 06 05 101/94 239.42 13.18 Neufchâtel 65 29 80 09 34½ 116/131/127* 244.56 18.32 Hesdigneul 68 54 110TT 11 59½ 128/129 253.40 26.56 Boulogne 74 14 RT 18 23 14 late booking-office system. So obtaining a ticket was no easy matter. And maybe the train was not on the loco depot rosters either, for it was some five minutes after booked departure time

Milepost 35½ -207 - October 2014 that BB 22342 backed down onto its nine coaches. After a slow start this turned out to be another BB capable of running at full line speed, unfortunately interrupted by a severe signal check before Chantilly and a slowing to below 100 km/h, perhaps now a PSR, at St-Just. So we remained well out of our path and followed something all the way from Longueau to Amiens, arriving 14½ minutes late. In any case all the time that could have been gained so far compared with 1964 was dissipated by the requirements of a ‘modern’ loco-change: booked 13 minutes, actually taking 14 – twice as long as 50 years ago!

The rather lazy impression conveyed by this handover was not contradicted by the running of the new engine, BB 67481, which never seemed to develop full power. Three minutes to 90 km/h and 94 minimum up the 1 in 131 of Dannes-Camiers bank seemed to suggest 1,600-1,700 EDHP rather than the 1,800-1,900 that one might hope for from this 2,400 HP locomotive. With minor gains in running and some station losses, arrival in Boulogne was still 14 minutes late. 4½ minutes had been gained to gross running times – but these must contain at least six minutes recovery margin.

In 1964 the Pacific left Boulogne on time and used up all of the generous booking, 39 minutes to Calais-Ville and six on to Calais-Maritime – in fact 38m 54s and 6m 9s. After another very easy start it just topped 80 km/h in the Wimille dip and went over Caffiers summit at 51 km/h. I noted, optimistically perhaps, that this speed was sustained – but even this would require not much over 1,250 EDHP, confirming that the loco was working less hard here than on the level sections south of Etaples.

In 2014 no trains make the Boulogne-Calais Ville run non-stop, but electric and diesel AGC units are booked in 35-37 minutes with four or five stops, and TGVs run from Boulogne to Calais-Fréthun (with a slow stop since they cross to the up line for departure towards Lille and Paris) in 20-22 minutes. So there is plenty of variety and some quite lively performance today, with a vastly more frequent service than was on offer 50 years ago. Some details of the running on this section and on the Paris-Chartres service will feature in my next SNCF article in the January issue of the magazine, along with some illustrations of how one would normally travel today between Paris and Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon and Dijon or from these towns to Paris, and from Paris to Calais and London.

Running time (Overall less Successive days’ Overall time station/connection time) N° of stops journeys in 1964 1964 2014 1964 2014 1964 2014 Paris--Rueil 15 33 16 47 15 33 14 23 0 5 Paris-Clermont 5h 32 15 6h 05 31 4h 45 50 4h 26 13 12 17 Clermont-Brioude* 1h 10 10 58 58 1h 02 43 55 06 3 4 Langeac-Nimes 2h 58 37 3h 42 46 2h 44 49 3h 31 27 6 6 Nimes-Arles 26 04 28 33 26 04 28 33 0 0 Arles-Avignon 21 20 16 00 21 20 16 00 0 0 Avignon-Orange 21 44 15 05 21 44 15 05 0 0 Orange-Vienne 2h 32 18 1h 41 31 1h 57 14 1h 29 33 8 6 Vienne-Lyon 22 55 20 50 21 53 20 50 1 0 Lyon-Paris 4h 28 42 5h 05 02 4h 22 14 4h 22 48 3 16 Paris-Chartres rtn 63 28+65 41 76 38+74 07 57 54+57 55 59 17+65 42 8+8 8+8 Paris-Calais§ 3h 10 46 3h 33 32 3h 01 21 2h 54 15 2 13

*In fact Clermont-St Georges-Le Puy one day, Le Puy-St Georges-Langeac another day. The spur to Le Puy was closed in July 2014 and the comparison is made to Brioude since the 2014 train was non-stop Brioude-Langeac. For this section the time was 25 01 non-stop in 2014, 30 30 on two different trains with two stops in 1964 § For comparative purposes times etc. are to Calais-Ville

Milepost 35½ -208 - October 2014 LETTERS

Dear David

Regarding the trains mentioned in John Rishton’s article, the 18.44 ex Carlisle was the 16.05 Glasgow Central to Leeds City, and the 18.30 ex Hereford was the 17.15 Cardiff General to Manchester Piccadilly.

In respect of any similar queries that may arise, you may wish to note that I’ve retained a full set of public timetables from 1968 to 2012!

Paul Jeffries, Cardiff

Paul’s e-mail address is: [email protected] - Ed

July 2014

Dear David,

I much enjoyed and appreciated Sandy Smeaton's article on Oswald Nock's "Most exciting 20 minutes... on a footplate" in the recent July issue of Milepost (ppl10-111).

It was a well chosen gem from the past: In fact I possess both Nock's book "Scottish Railways" and the relevant Railway Magazines, but have somehow never realised how exciting that run must have been. My thanks to Sandy.

His mention in his text of Jubilee No:45665 Lord Rutherford of Nelson, however, reminds me of a boyhood experience which I don't think I have mentioned in Milepost.

In mid-August, 1943, I was travelling home from Christ's Hospital school, Horsham for my summer holidays. To be precise, I was not travelling from the school itself, but from Holmwood station on the Horsham-Dorking line, where I had worked for three weeks harvesting on Leith Hill. This explains the late summer date for the start of my holiday at home in Scotland. It also helps to pin down the date, which would have been close to 20 August.

I travelled on the 10 am from Euston to Glasgow, due in Glasgow at either 1845 or 1850. I had no watch, let alone stopwatch in those days, so details have, perforce to be imprecise.

I was in the rear of the train which was, I think (I usually counted the coaches and am sure I did so on this occasion) 17 coaches. There was some delay at Crewe, which we left around 1.40 pm, about 20 minutes late. I was very surprised when, after passing Carnforth, we pulled to a stand at Oxenholme. I got out into the corridor, and soon established after restarting that we had a banker, a 2-6-4 tank. I had travelled on the 10.00am since December 1939, and this was a new experience.

To my surprise, the banker stayed with us through the Lune Valley, where speed seemed normal (i.e in the low sixties) and together with engines fore and aft, we charged the Shap incline. I realised that we had probably lost our Pacific at Crewe. (The 2-6-4 tank dropped off at Shap Summit.)

North of Carlisle, speed fell into the twenties on the successive 1 in 200 climbs to Kirtlebridge and Castlemilk, and after taking the banker at Beattock, I well remember that on the long climb to the Summit, we were slowly overtaken by the ONLY vehicle on the main

Milepost 35½ -209 - October 2014 road - a clapped-out lorry! What a relief to get over the top. It was about 8.15pm when we eventually got into Glasgow Central. And there, at the head of the train was Lord Rutherford of Nelson, which had come from Crewe with 17 – some 550tons.

I much regret I have no further details – but members may like to note that in 1943, a Jubilee did haul the wartime Royal Scot from Crewe to Glasgow.

Regards

William J Alcock

Hi David

On 29th February 1964 I travelled on the down ACE from Waterloo to Exeter. The run as far as Salisbury is in the database but not the run on to Exeter, and very good it was too with driver Besley on top form. I was in a compartment with at least four others who were timing the train and I need to try to locate a log taken by one of those to compare with my log as my watch was playing up on that day. Is it possible to publish this in the next Milepost in the hope that somebody will come forward?

Thanks

Don Benn David

I have put two of my best down ACE runs together to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the record runs on the South West main line

Overall Charlie Hopgood gave me more consistently good ACE runs than any other driver, even more than Fred Hoare in fact, though I didn't have very many with him. Charlie had a lovely cheerful character and I can still hear his infectious laugh and Salisbury accent when I think back now. Surely those last few years of MN running on the ACE surpassed or at least equalled anything else ever done with steam in UK?

WATERLOO-TO SALISBURY Date 6th June 1964 18th April 1964 Train 11 am Waterloo-Salisbury (ACE) 11am Waterloo-Salisbury (ACE) Loco MN 4-6-2 35026 MN 4-6-2 35016 Load 12, 409½/445 12, 407/435 Driver C Hopgood, Salisbury Cox, Salisbury Inspector unknown Jupp Recorder Don Benn Don Benn Weather fine and warm fine and warm miles sch mins secs speed mins secs speed 0.00 Waterloo 0 00 00 RT 00 00 RT 1.29 Vauxhall 03 23 36 03 37 37 2.81 Queens Road 05 19 47½ 05 24 54½ 3.93 Clapham Junction 7 07 01 41* 06 53 43* 5.58 Earlsfield 09 22 48 09 00 52 7.24 Wimbledon 11 17 57 10 48 56 8.64 Raynes Park 12 40 61 12 11 60 9.78 New Malden 13 45 64½ 13 19 63½ 10.98 Berrylands 14 47 68 14 22 65 12.04 Surbiton 15 44 70½ 15 21 70 13.34 Hampton Court Jct 17 16 48 75 16 26 71

Milepost 35½ -210 - October 2014 miles sch mins secs speed mins secs speed 14.39 Esher 17 40 77 17 19 74 15.91 Hersham 18 54 76 18 35 75 17.08 Walton 19 48 75 19 32 72½ 18.10 Oatlands Box 20 39 72 20 24 71 19.15 Weybridge 21 30 74 21 14 73 20.40 Byfleet 22 33 77 22 16 77½ 21.68 West Byfleet 23 36 73/64* sigs 23 17 74 24.29 Woking 25 55 67 25 30 71½ 24.75 Woking Jct 27 26 18 68 25 50 70 27.99 Brookwood 29 14 68½ 28 42 67½ 29.65 Pirbright Jct 30 43 66 30 09 64 31.00 MP 31 32 00 64½ 31 31 62½ 32.20 Strurt Lane Jct 33 07 68 32 36 69 33.20 Farnborough 34 00 71 33 28 71½ 36.48 Fleet 36 43 75/78 36 07 77/79 39.83 Winchfield 39 21 76/73 38 41 76½/75 42.16 Hook 41 18 74/72 40 34 78/75½ 43.70 Newnham Siding 42 33 76 41 42 81 47.75 Basingstoke 45 55 71 44 57 66* 50.30 Worting Jct 50 48 08 65½ 47 06 65½ 51.00 MP 51 48 51 65 47 55 65½ 52.38 Oakley 50 04 70 49 06 70 55.55 Overton 52 44 77 51 42 78 59.10 Whitchurch 55 26 82 54 30 79 61.14 Hurstbourne 56 51 84 56 52 pws 24* 62.50 MP 62½ 57 58 79 59 03 46 66.35 Andover 60 43 85 62 27 76½ 67.65 Red Post Jct 61 47 78½ 63 36 74 68.75 MP 68¾ 62 40 80 64 28 75 72.70 Grateley 65 51 66 67 53 60 75.60 Allington Box 68 21 75 70 24 69½ 78.29 Porton 70 21 82/86½ 72 43 78/84 82.56 Tunnel Junction 74 24 sigs 25*/48 78 05 sigs 16*/43 83.66 Salisbury 80 76 58 81 02 Net 76 00 76 00

Don Burley Cottage, Parson St., Porlock, Som. TA24 8QJ

David Ashley, Esq. The Editor, Milepost

Dear David,

Below is an extract from a letter from Bill Crosbie Hill to Michael Rowe:

“Dear Michael, I see from the latest Milepost your article raises the question of starts from Paddington on the down ‘Bristolian’.

I seem to remember that ‘CJA’ in his article in the September 1954 Railway Magazine described a run when the King got through Reading in 29 minutes 44 seconds. I expect it was 6015 or 6018, these two engines with 6025 (on the Plymouth run) were the ‘best in class’.

Milepost 35½ -211 - October 2014 The Reverend Haines used to travel in the first coach on this train as I did on the up journey. I told him about 6015 running up in 95-01 and he said ‘jolly lovely’!” end of quote

I have checked the times in C.J.Allen’s table and they are 32-34 [6000], 32-02 [6015], 30-38 [6015] and 32-36 [6015]. The schedule to Reading was 31 minutes, followed by a four minute recovery margin before Didcot. Despite pws checks to 65, 44 and 69 on runs 1,2 & 4 and a signal check to 5 on number 3, times to Didcot were 46-05, 47-04, 46-37 and 46-28, schedule was 48. The best overall net time to Bristol was achieved on the third run ie 95¾ minutes.

Bill’s memory however, 60 years on, is impressive. CJA’s June 1955 article included, “the fastest journey by the Down ‘Bristolian’ that I have ever known, timed by Mr. E.W.Maybank, a very experienced recorder”. The loco was No.6016 with 7/235/250. Details; a pws before Acton [cost half a minute], Ealing Broadway passed in 7-50 at (57 mph), (80) at MP11½, average 85.5 from there to Reading, 29-44 (88), Didcot 41-58 (82), pws (45) after, Shrivenham 57-17 (83), sigs before Swindon 61-42 (64), pws (5), Wootton Bassett 68-45 (72), Dauntsey (90), Chippenham 76-45 (80), Bath 87-22 (41), max after (72) and a pws (10) Bristol Temple Meads 99-58; CJA reckoned the net 93 minutes.

Thank you, Bill, for reminding us of this exploit.

Michael Rowe

Manx Steam

I was glad to see train running on the Isle of Man Railway given some space in MP, in Mike Burrows’s article on p 44 of MP 35.

When I first travelled it in 1971, there were no mileposts, and no continuous brake. Trains stopped on the engine and van brakes. The mileposts that appeared later seemed mostly to disappear, so I have always used distances based on OS maps and gradient charts of the line.

I write because my timings on the line include some heavier trains than those recorded by Mike. As on the easier sections south of Castletown, the weight of the trains makes very little difference to their speed, I concentrate on the climb from Douglas to Port Soderick southbound, and from Castletown northbound, especially to the Ballalona level crossing at circa 6 miles 32 chains. I have excluded short trains running easily, which is why none of my 1991 runs feature.

The climb to Port Soderick is two miles at 1 in 65/70/65. According to the IoM society website, the summit south of Port Soderick is 588 ft feet above sea level. The climb from Castletown to Ballasalla, about 1½ miles, is mostly at 1 in 100. That from Ballasalla to Ballalona, some two miles, starts at 1 in 80, and eases to 1 in 123/109/646.

Southbound Date Engine and load Time Douglas to Port Speed on climb Notes Soderick, start to stop mph May 1971 Kissack and 6 12m 48s 15/ 17½ May 1971 Kissack and 4 9m 09s 21/ 23½ Sep 1974 Kissack and 5 10m 55s 17/ 20 a Aug 1980 Loch and 6 12m 27s 17/ 19 Aug 1980 Maitland and 5 12m 37s 17/ 18 Aug 1980 Kissack and 6 16m 58s 13/ 14 b Aug 1980 Kissack pushing Maitland and 5 19m 56s 13/ 11 c (a) from restart at end of Douglas platform (b) Called on at short notice to work the train

Milepost 35½ -212 - October 2014 (c) Maitland making steam during the climb and not working; Kissack pushing in rear to Port Soderick; of the sectional time, there was a stop of 2m 29s for a blow up by Kissack. This was the same day as the previous line. Apparently both Kissack and Maitland were required to work trains earlier than the ones for which they were rostered. Northbound Date Engine and load Castletown to Ballsalla to Max speed Ballasalla Ballasalla start to Ballalona(b) start to Ballalona, mph stop to pass May 1971 Kissack and 3 4m 11s 6m34s 24 May 1971 Kissack and 7 7m 32s (a) 7m27s 22 Sept 1974 Kissack and 5 - 7m51s 20 Aug 1980 Maitland and 5 5m 42s 8m 18s 18 Aug 1980 Kissack and 6 6m 08 8m 03s 19 Aug 1980 Loch and 6 (c) - 7m 34s 21 (a) Slow en route awaiting closing of level crossing gates (b) Ballalona gated level crossing at 6 miles 32 chains (c) Two runs almost identical.

John Knowles New Malden

BOOK REVIEW John Heaton

SOUTH AND WEST FROM WATERLOO By Gerry Nichols with photographs by Mark B. Warburton

The formidable partnership of S.L.S. Librarian Gerry Nichols and the late Mark Warburton has produced a complete album of unpublished colour photographs from the 1960s covering the territory between London Waterloo and the furthest reaches of the Southern’s ‘withered arm’. The 90 photographic pages cover 71 locations and 31 different steam locomotive classes.

Those of us in the RPS who were fortunate enough to have known Mark will be aware of his meticulous attention to detail and the wide knowledge that he applied to his railway activities. In this book, he demonstrates these qualities through his photographic composition, but he also captures many operational quirks of the time.

There is a section taken while conducting a Society lineside survey at Worting Jct on a July Saturday in 1964. He recorded 92 trains in 6hrs, 64 of which were steam hauled, including a number by unrebuilt Bulleid Light Pacifics - some photographs of which have been selected for this publication. The total number of trains passing this location in the same 6hrs on a recent July Saturday was 101.

A personal favourite is the glimpse of Tipton St. John’s in 1961 with four 2-6-2Ts of three different classes busy combining the Sidmouth and Exmouth portions of a summer Saturday Cleethorpes train.

It is a strength of the album that the photographs are not limited to ‘three quarters’ shots on the sunniest of days, so the impact is sometimes reduced on pages where a black background (and white caption print) are used. There are some caption inaccuracies to put right in future editions (e.g. South Western Division steam finished in July 1967 not 1966, an inadvertent error on title page photo – and the alleged 106mph credited to No. 35013 in that final fortnight was achieved by No. 35003. It was also better than ‘alleged’. I know. I was there… and this book successfully transports me back to those times.

A copy of this book has been lodged with the RPS library for members to borrow.

Milepost 35½ -213 - October 2014 Ian Allan Publishing Ltd. Riverside Business Park, Hersham, Surrey KT12 4RG. 225mm x 255mm. 96pp hardback, ISBN 978 0 7110 3795 3; £20, discounted to £13.50 incl. P&P by Amazon at the time of writing the review.

NEWS

Spies like us – Malcolm Simister

Occasionally while train timing a fellow passenger goes beyond curious gazes and asks me what I am doing gazing intently out of the window with stopwatch in hand and scribbling numbers in a notebook (I use old fashioned technology mostly). Most of us have had such experiences, I am sure. On a very crowded train between Geelong and Melbourne some years ago I was timing standing in the corridor of a compartment coach when on arrival at the then Spencer Street station an old lady who had been sitting on her suitcase next to me asked, ‘Excuse me, I didn’t like to interrupt you but what were you doing?’ I explained and she said, ‘Oh that’s good. You must have an interest’. I liked her.

More recently, in Germany on a train from Nürnberg to Crailsheim a man sitting across the aisle from me in the open coach asked what I was up to. I tried to explain in my pidgin German but the man wasn’t satisfied. I don’t think Deutsche Bahn warns passengers to be vigilant and report suspicious behaviour as happens on trains in Britain but this man needed no encouragement and clearly thought I was up to no good. He persisted with questions to the point of harassment and I was getting rather curt with him when, fortunately, the ticket inspector appeared. The man told him I was spying. The inspector, an experienced, calm man checked my ticket and asked, ‘Stopwatch?’ in English. I showed him my timepiece, he smiled and explained to the would-be spy catcher that what I was doing was not illegal and that I was just interested in trains. I was relieved that spy catcher then left me alone for the rest of my journey, although his continuing suspicious glares and glances suggested he wasn’t completely convinced of my innocence.

Incidentally, I was surprised that a German ticket inspector knew about train timing. I wonder if it is just RPS members he has met previously or whether there are Teutonic train timers too?

Regardless, if any foreign power would like my log of the run to help plan their invasion of Germany it is herewith. Many kilometre ‘posts’ are signs attached to the supports for the overhead wires and are of dubious accuracy so I timed for the most part over whole kilometres to mitigate this.

Deutsche Bahn provided superpower, if both locomotives were actually working, for the six coach train weighing approximately 300 tonnes gross. The Class 101 Bo-Bo that was on the front of the train is rated at 6,400 kW (8,583 hp) and the Class 120 Bo-Bo on the rear at 5,600 kW (7,500 hp). The latter weighs 84 tonnes so if only the Class 101 was working the train may have weighed nearer to 400 tonnes. I doubt that either locomotive on its own would have had trouble keeping the schedule.

The line leaves Nürnberg through a maze of tracks, crosses an autobahn and the Main- Danube Canal and then heads out through the suburbs and into open country. Crossing the Rednitz River before Unterasbach, it rises from a height of 312 metres at Nürnberg to 461 m at Wicklesgreuth and descends to 408 m at Ansbach. Climbing from there, Dombühl is at 473 m from where a gentle descent returns the line to 408 m again at Crailsheim. So the grades are steady rather than steep. The countryside is pleasant with forests, hills, various

Milepost 35½ -214 - October 2014 crops and several solar panel ‘farms’ in view. After Ansbach the line hugs the Frankennhöhe highland and passes between a forest and the Klosterberg Mountain.

For interest, Wikipedia (the source of some of the information above) reveals that the line was opened from Nürnberg to Ansbach and then Dombühl in 1875 by the Royal Bavarian State Railways and extended across the Württemberg border to Crailsheim in 1876.

The train running itself was steady in the German way of never apparently extending their equipment to anywhere near its limits. The maximum permitted speed seemed to be 130 km/h although we put on a spurt to 140 km/h around Dombühl. I suspect the slowings on either side of Heilsbronn were TSRs rather than signal checks, especially as the actual running was made with Teutonic precision according to the public timetable which may have allowed for them. Altogether an unspectacular but nevertheless enjoyable run in pleasant countryside, made memorable by a vigilant German patriot.

I wonder if other readers have caused inadvertent problems whilst enjoying their hobby. Please let us know. I am reminded of an occasion in November 2001 – shortly after the 9-11 attacks which was described on page 196 of Milepost 24½ - Ed

Network Developments – Ian Umpleby

Improvements to the Network continue unabated. Those completed over the last three months are the Swindon to Kemble doubling with some extension of 100 mph running; the reopening of a platform at Whitby primarily for North Yorks. Moors trains; Selby Swing Bridge has been repaired and line speed restored; the delayed bridge replacement/realignment of the Cambrian Line near Penryndeudraeth, including the relocation of Llandecwyn “halt”, with higher speeds; Huyton to Roby trebling with 90 mph running available from Astley to Wavertree (Liverpool); the “dynamic loop” on the Redditch branch; Holme Tunnel (Todmorden-Burnley) has had its 45 mph PSR restored, although full opening of the Todmorden to Stansfield Hall spur has been deferred - the southbound direction awaiting completion of signalling work next February; crossovers at Watford Junction have been renewed with the box due to close in December; the Belle Isle (Kings Cross) to St Pancras(Low Level) line is now connected up at both ends, but passenger use is not imminent, and more Waterloo International platforms have been made available for passenger use, although not for scheduled trains. Ongoing projects continue at Reading, (although the station was officially opened by the Queen in July); London Bridge, where the first of the longer refurbished platforms on the “Brighton” side opened in late August; the Bicester spur bringing Chiltern Trains to Oxford Parkway by September next year; the North West electrification work from Edge Hill to Wigan/Earlestown, which may not now be complete by the December timetable start; Crossrail work now extending to Abbey Wood where track realignment is taking place; opening of extra platforms at Cardiff Queen Street has been deferred to December and doubling of the City Line at Ninian Park delayed; Wrexham to Saltney Jn (Chester) where partial redoubling work is now in full swing: Rutherglen to Whifflet where electrification work is virtually complete and the Borders Railway where platform work and tracklaying has started. The upgrade of the Peterborough- Lincoln-Doncaster line is approaching its final phase and there has been a modest, but welcome, upgrade in line speed between Lincoln and Doncaster. The increase in line speed from 40 to 70mph over Ladybank Jn towards Perth has once again been deferred as have signalling schemes in East Sussex (early 2015?) and Wolverhampton (Easter 2015?); work in connection with the Medway scheme continues with a new westwards facing bay at Rainham under construction. The Swanage Railway has been handed a lease from its current limit to Worgret Junction (Wareham), opening the way for a Swanage to Wareham service. Finally, in Ireland, the through platform at Waterford is closed pending rectification of rockfall problems and all trains must use a three car long bay platform on the south side.

Milepost 35½ -215 - October 2014

THURSDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2014

Area Meeting

BRISTOL PARKWAY

TUESDAY 4TH NOVEMBER 2014

Area Meeting

LEEDS

THURSDAY 22ND JANUARY 2015

Area Meeting

BOROUGH, LONDON

Milepost 35½ -216 - October 2014